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Raul Villamia's childhood in Cuba revolved around baseball and bloodshed. The violence that he witnessed led him to support Castro's revolution, and his brother Mario introduced him to Castro's 26th of July Movement (M267). Minor league baseball brought him to the United States, where he hoped to pursue a career in the majors, and left Villamia uniquely placed to aid Castro's revolution from abroad.
From Tampa, New York City, Bridgeport, Union City, Miami, and Key West, the Villamias, Angel Perez-Vidal, Howard K. Davis and others supported Castro through fundraising, collecting supplies for the revolutionaries, propaganda campaigns, and arms smuggling. Raul rubbed elbows with Castro and his top men and with American gangsters who did business in Cuba. He was hounded by the FBI, and his brother Mario is mentioned in the Warren Commission Report. This memoir recalls Villamia's experience as an advocate for Castro in the United States and tells the story of those in America whose efforts helped to oust Batista.
List of contents
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Foreword by Emiliano E.J. Salcines
Preface
Introduction
¿1.¿I Once Supported Fidel Castro Ruz
¿2.¿Baseball and Bloodshed in Cuba
¿3.¿Ybor City
¿4.¿My Revolutionary Brother Mario
¿5.¿Revolutions in Tampa
¿6.¿Castro Comes to Tampa
¿7.¿Dark Forces
¿8.¿Meet Tampa's M-26-7
¿9.¿The Media's Role in the Revolution
10.¿The Radicals
11.¿New Leadership
12.¿Mario's Missions
13.¿A Revolutionary Hero Leads Us
14.¿Gun Smuggling from Tampa
15.¿Victory
16.¿Fallout
17.¿My Return to a Free Cuba
18.¿Signs of Trouble
19.¿Visiting Santo Trafficante Jr.
20.¿New and Old Enemies
21.¿A Dead Revolutionary in Tampa
22.¿Who Freed the Gangster?
23.¿Creating José Martí Park
24.¿Battling the Consul
25.¿The End of Tampa's M-26-7
26.¿The End to My Revolutionary Days
27.¿Saying Goodbye to Cuban Cigars
28.¿The Cuban Missile Crisis
29.¿The Assassination of JFK
30.¿My Brother Comes Home
31.¿Viva Cuba Libre
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
The late Raul Andres Villamia came from Cuba as a professional minor league baseball player in 1947. In 1955, his brother Mario asked him to help Castro establish a M267 branch in Tampa. Raul served as its secretary and president, and as Tampa's first Cuban Consul under Castro. He retired from a 30-year career with the City of Tampa Traffic Department. He died on December 2, 2010, at the age of 95.
