Published Friday, February 9, 2001, in the Miami Herald

Cuban revolutionary's grandson seeking asylum in U.S.

Yotuhel Montané, the 28-year-old grandson of a Cuban revolutionary leader, said Thursday he is seeking political asylum in the United States.

Montané, who arrived in Miami from Puerto Rico last month, made the statement on the WQBA-AM (1140) radio program hosted by Ninoska Pérez Castellón, spokeswoman for the Cuban American National Foundation.

``I broke with all that because I wanted to live in freedom,'' Montané said, referring to his life in Cuba. ``None of the perks I had because I was a member of my grandfather's family are worth more than the freedom I enjoy now.''

Montané's grandfather is the late Jesús Montané Oropesa, a close friend of Fidel Castro since the early days of the revolution. Known as ``Chuchú,'' Jesús Montané was a co-founder of the 26 of July Movement and sailed with Castro and other rebels from Mexico to Cuba in 1956 aboard the yacht Granma.

The Sierra Maestra guerrilla campaign in Cuba's highlands began shortly thereafter.

Jesús Montané's son, Sergio, a member of Cuba's diplomatic corps, defected in 1994. Now 51, he lives in Miami.

Yotuhel Montané said he worked in Havana as a disc jockey. In 1995, he left the island legally, he said, and traveled through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, looking for a way to join his father in the United States.

In Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, where he lived for the past two years, he set up a nautical goods store as a cover for the use of a boat that would bring him to South Florida, he said. Two such efforts failed.

But on Jan. 4, he sailed the boat to Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, and flew from there to Miami, aided by relatives.

As the descendant of a revolutionary figure, he enjoyed many privileges in his homeland, he said, such as vacations in restricted spas in Varadero and access to exclusive medical facilities.

But Montané was disenchanted by what he saw as hypocrisy on the part of the nation's leaders.

``None of them live like the rest of the people,'' he said. ``They live in nice houses, drive fine cars and their refrigerators are full of food.

``They drill it into your head that you're part of a revolution, but you finally realize that the revolution doesn't exist,'' he said.

Copyright 2001 the Miami Herald.
Republished here with the permission of the Miami Herald. No further republication or redistribution is permitted without the written approval of The Miami Herald.