Montaner, defender of freedom and exemplary Cuban

By: Pedro Cateriano - 03/07/2023

Guest columnist.
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The great writer, lucid essayist and insightful journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner was an indefatigable defender of freedom throughout his fruitful intellectual life; throughout Latin America, but mainly in favor of his country, Cuba. From a very young age, he faced the criminal dictatorship that Fidel Castro implanted on the island and that, thanks to his henchmen, still survives, after 64 years.

Carlos Alberto was part of the Cuban diaspora, which is an essential part of its history and which helps to understand the drama of millions of people who are oppressed and persecuted for their ideas and whose human rights are systematically violated, as is the case today. in Venezuela or Nicaragua.

In his memoir, “Without going any further”, he permanently reminds us of his passion and pain for Cuba and, above all, he shares his life's dream: to see her free. “I don't remember a single day in which that island had not been present to me in some way”, he tells us by way of confession. For this reason, from exile, he always fought for the freedom of his people.

His work, as a writer and journalist, was the faithful reflection of a man of democratic convictions and political action. His talent, which soon became famous, made him an icon in the defense of freedom in Latin America. Brilliant articles published in numerous newspapers, dozens of informed and suggestive books, multitudinous and entertaining lectures in universities or forums of all kinds, as well as sharp television programs, are irrefutable proof of this statement.

But what I always admired in him was his ability and agility as a presenter. Masterly. With the rooted and characteristic Cuban touch of him, he was both a provocateur and a pedagogue of the word. The difficult to understand made it easy to understand. That's how I met him when he came to Peru to support the presidential candidacy of Mario Vargas Llosa, an admired friend of his, and to participate as a speaker in the “Freedom Revolution” congress, which was organized in Lima with prominent liberals. That's where our friendship was born. He was a magnificent and enlightened conversationalist, as well as a fine cultivator of personal relationships, just like his wife Linda.

I met him first in Madrid and then in Miami, where he spent a large part of his life. From there he led the fiercest attack against Commander Castro. He was a generous person with a great sense of humor. He always took care of his health. I remember that once, walking through Miraflores, he asked me to take him to a pharmacy because he wanted to buy cat's claw pills. Something that he – he confessed to me – did every time he visited us. We never imagined that he would later be afflicted with the rare and cruel disease that killed him, progressive supranuclear palsy, which prevented him from reading and writing. The two great passions of him.

He had the deference to write an article –which was published in the numerous newspapers in which he collaborated– when the first edition of my book “El Caso García” (1994) came out. He always had first-hand information on any subject of the diverse and always volatile Ibero-American politics. Our last conversations were about the chaotic Peruvian politics. He followed – almost like any other Peruvian – the efforts of Alan García, Alberto Fujimori, Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala and also that of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. And he never understood how we opted –according to him– for “suicide” and elected Pedro Castillo as president.

He was a prolific and industrious writer. He published 25 books. In several of them, he dealt with the complex history of Latin America. It can be said, without exaggeration, that his political knowledge of the region increased because he was a frequent traveler and an active participant in international events.

For the disgraceful Cuban dictatorship, Montaner was a terrorist and a counterrevolutionary. CIA agent and also a masked journalist. Qualifications typical of a totalitarian and criminal regime, used over decades to try to intimidate it. But Carlos Alberto never gave up. Never.

I am not exaggerating when I say that Montaner's civic conduct was heroic. He was an exemplary Cuban in defense of human rights. He saw Fidel Castro (whom, as Mario Vargas Llosa said, "will not be absolved by history") die, but he could not see his dream of a free Cuba come true.

The departure of Carlos Alberto leaves a void that is difficult to fill. It also occurs at a critical moment in which almost all of the Latin American left (led by presidents Lula of Brazil, López Obrador of Mexico and Petro of Colombia) impudently covers up the long-standing and criminal Cuban tyranny, in the face of the notorious indifference of the international community. But let's be optimistic, like him. Perhaps we will see his dream come true: a free Cuba. "His work, as a writer and journalist, was the faithful reflection of a man of democratic convictions and political action."

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».