Back to the front

By DON BOHNING
Herald Staff Writer

After four years behind the scenes, Erneido Oliva is returning to the front lines in the battle against Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Oliva, a career military man who distinguished himself as second in command of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion force and later rose to the rank of major general in the U.S. Army Reserve, this week announced formation of the Cuban-American Military Council (CAMCO).

The council, he said, will bring together Cuban exile ``military personnel who have served honorably'' in the U.S. armed forces, the Bay of Pigs Assault Brigade 2506, the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and Cuba's pre-Castro army.

Oliva, 64, who retired in 1993 as deputy commanding general of the District of Columbia National Guard, qualifies on all four counts.

Oliva said CAMCO -- which will have joint headquarters in Miami and Washington, D.C. -- is not intended to compete with other exile organizations. Its activities will be military-related and nonpartisan, designed to work for the establishment of a ``sovereign and democratic system in Cuba . . . free of communist rule and repression,'' achieved ``not with deaths, hate and revenge but with understanding, reconciliation and understanding.''

He emphasized that CAMCO ``is not striving to organize an army, air force and navy'' but to put together ``a highly qualified military cadre that can be prepared and organized to assist the Cuban people during a transition to democracy.''

An 11-point agenda notes that CAMCO will ``take any legal action necessary to accelerate the democratic transition in Cuba'' and will ``respect the neutrality laws of the United States.''

Oliva would not comment on CAMCO's funding but said it's receiving neither financial nor material assistance from any agency or department of the U.S. government. He said he had been working quietly on the formation of CAMCO for ``a couple of months'' and hopes to have itfully organized by early next year, then convoke a general assembly of its membership.

``People already have joined us. We are not dreaming. This is not a paper organization but something that is already there,'' he said.

``I have established contacts with many Cuban-American military personnel who, like me, think that the time has come to put aside old political differences and personal antagonism and work together as a cohesive team for the liberation of Cuba.''

Two early CAMCO members, and directors, are Jose Miro Torra, president of Brigade 2506, and Andres Garcia, head of the Cuban American Veterans Association.

Miro hailed CAMCO's formation ``as a golden opportunity for the liberty of Cuba,'' adding that the only way to achieve Cuban liberty is through the Cuban people with the help of the Cuban armed forces or a revolt by the Cuban armed forces with the support of the Cuban people.

``CAMCO has a very bright future,'' Garcia said. ``It's about time that the military sectors of Cuba came together.''

Oliva said joint CAMCO headquarters would be established in Miami, where the majority of its membership will be, and in the Washington area, ``where its leadership can initiate contacts or maintain those established during the last 37 years of struggle against the Castro regime.''

The new group, according to Oliva, already has ``enough military personnel in our structure to begin working on any contingency that may unexpectedly arise inside Cuba.''

A major goal, Oliva said, ``is to unite all military personnel in the exile community, even if they had fought in different camps, and extend a hand of friendship to the military within Cuba.''

``I am convinced that by speaking to them, from one group of military professionals to another, we can make the members of the Cuban armed forces realize that working together, we can make possible a brighter future for the Cuban people.''

It's clear from both Oliva's comments and CAMCO's 11-point agenda that much of its focus will be on the Cuban armed forces.

In a statement announcing the formation of CAMCO, Oliva notes that a ``solidarity such as the one envisioned has to include the members of the FAR [Revolutionary Armed Forces]. The military in Cuba -- as well as the exile community -- is a vital component of the Cuban nation.''

``Potentially, the FAR possesses the personnel, organization and weaponry that can be used to either bloodily end a peaceful revolt carried out in desperation by the Cuban people or turn against the dictator and the small group of confidants who are helping him perpetuate his power.''

It goes on to urge ``members of the FAR to join the Cuban people in their struggle for independence so that no more blood be spilled on Cuban soil.''

The agenda calls for ``military-to-military contacts and support [for] the efforts of FAR members inside Cuba who wish to break their ties with the dictatorship''; offers to ``welcome all Cuban military personnel who escape to free soil,'' and pledges to maintain ``active channels of communication for informing the Cuban people and FAR members of strategies being used to achieve democracy on the island.''

``One of the most important objectives of CAMCO is to ensure that the members of FAR understand that we want a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba,'' Oliva said. ``We want to ensure that the members of the FAR are fully aware that we are not their enemies.

``The only enemies of the Cuban people are Fidel Castro and the senior leadership of the Communist Party who are desperately trying to perpetuate their power.''

Oliva said that -- unlike Cuba when Castro took over, Nicaragua when the Sandinistas took power and Haiti after its return to elected government -- he does not envision the dissolution of the existing Cuban army.

Rather, he said, he hopes its members will become part of ``a professional armed forces completely subordinated to the civilian authority; an armed forces that does not swear loyalty to a political or military leader but rather defends a body of principles'' as found in Cuba's 1940 Constitution or a new one adopted by a constituent assembly.