Published Sunday September 13, 1998in El Nuevo Herald

Marcos's connections to Castroism will be revealed

OLANCE NOGUERAS
El Nuevo Herald

One of the guerillas most closely bound to Ernesto Chi Guevara, Daniel Alarcsn Rammrez, alias Benigno,, will appear today at 9pm on the program Opposite Poles " Polos Opuesto" of the CBS chain TeleNoticias to reveal for the first time the direct relation between the subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista National Liberation Army, and top generals of the Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

"He will speak of the participation of Marcos in training camps which exist in Cuba to give military preparation to foreigners," said a source close to the producers of Opposite Poles who requested anonymity. "This Cuban peasant is a person who believed in that [regime in the island] and he has been converted into one of the most important detractors of Castro in Europe."

The source indicated that Alarcsn did not include this account in his book Memories of a Cuban Soldier due to strong threats from a commission created in France to represent the interests and strategies of the subcomandante Marcos.

In the program which is hosted by journalist Marma Elvira Salazar, also participated the Mexican writer Jorge Castaqeda, author of the most recent biography on Chi, and the spanish journalist Bertrand de la Grange, who wrote the book Marcos, the Brilliant Imposter, where there appeared the first clues to potential connections between the head of the Zapatista movement of Chiapas and the Castro regime.

For Alarcsn Rammrez, who has since 1994 has lived exiled in Paris, this is his first visit to Miami.

Analysts of the Cuban issue consider him one of the most direct witnesses of the history of the revolution of 1959. In Memories... he told the stories of the most important battles of the insurrectional armed battles and the principle characteristics of the Cuban nomenklatura.

However, many resist forgetting that he accompanied Guevara in his guerrilla adventures in Africa and Latin America, and that for various years he headed the Department of Jails and Prisons in Cuba.

Salazar is one of the most dashing journalists of CBS TeleNoticias, the chain which transmits reports in Spanish and Portuguese all 24 hours.

Those who wish to ask questions or express opinions during the debate can call 1-305-805-3309.


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