Juan F. Benemelis

“Yemen's President Rubai Ali suggested to Fidel Castro that I remain his advisor. He told me, "You will stay here with me, I will give you a house, women, whatever you want." Osmany Cienfuegos agreed to that, Fidel did not reply and left, nevertheless a telegram came from Havana from Carlos Rafael Rodríguez stating that I was going back to Cuba. In a week there was a coup involving Cuban troops and assassinating the President Rubai Ali and all his associates. They would kill me, too. It happened in 1979. I returned to Cuba and was in a very difficult situation at that time. First, because it was known whose side I stood at in Yemen. I also wrote a book and published it - about the coup, the way it had never been talked about. That the coup was carried out by the Cuban 50th Division, led by General Osvaldo Reina, as all the ministers and the president were assassinated, the Cuban unit that was in the east. The training centers that built by the 50th Division on the east, on the border with the Rub al-Khali Desert, are the same centers that were then used by Al Qaeda.”

“At the time of our first interview, Che Guevara came to me as totally ignorant of the subject I was trying to explain to him. Moreover, he was absolutely reluctant to admit that I might be right. The second interview took place in Cairo after we talked to President Nasir, and I got an impression of a man without any scruples. I already knew something, because I was told about the executions, he had made in La Cabaña Prison. I didn't feel good about him. There was a coldness that made me feel afraid. During the conversation with him, I did not feel a single bit of humanity. There was coldness in his eyes, and the way he communicated, as if saying that there was a person in front of you who could decide on your life. That was my impression. He didn't seem intelligent at all, as they said. It wasn't Cuban Trotsky. From the way he behaved, I think he was afraid of Fidel. I think he was aware that Fidel could just remove him whenever he wanted to. I went to Katanga, saying that the revolution was led by the people, who were cold-blooded and capable of removing anyone for anything.”