Huber Matos - Split With Castro

Split With Castro

In July 1959, Matos made public denunciations of the direction the revolution was taking, with openly anti-communist speeches in Camagüey. This led to a series of disputes between Castro, at that time Prime Minister of Cuba, and President Manuel Urrutia Lleó. Shortly thereafter, Castro replaced Urrutia with the Minister of Revolutionary Laws, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado. Given his past concerns, Matos found the move troubling and decided to tender his resignation in a letter to Castro. On July 26, Castro and Matos met at the Hilton Hotel in Havana. The revolutionary leader was in a rather upbeat mood, as over a million people, including several thousand peasants, had flocked to the capital to celebrate the passage of the Agrarian Reform Law.

According to Matos, Castro told him, "'Your resignation is not acceptable at this point. We still have too much work to do,' he said. 'I admit that Raúl and Che are flirting with Marxism... but you have the situation under control... Forget about resigning... But if in a while you believe the situation is not changing, you have the right to resign.'"

In September 1959, Matos wrote, "Communist influence in the government has continued to grow. I have to leave power as soon as possible. I have to alert the Cuban people as to what is happening." On October 19, he sent a second letter of resignation to Castro. Two days later, Castro sent fellow revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos to arrest Matos. During the subsequent meeting between Cienfuegos and Matos, who had grown close during the revolution, Matos says he warned his young colleague that he believed he had been sent to make the arrest so that forces allied with Matos might kill Camilo Cienfuegos. The young revolutionary had become quite popular in the months following the march on Havana, as such, Matos says it was Castro's intent to eliminate any perceived competition. Cienfuegos, however, is recorded as having supported the arrest of Matos, which is why he had been sent. Cienfuegos mysteriously disappeared en-route back to Havana after the securing of Matos and his military adjutants in late October 1959. Some people hint at foul play by either Castro or Matos, but most historians agree it was probably an accident. Communists would later claim Matos was working in conjunction with persons such as Tony Varona, Carlos Prío, and Manuel Artime with the plans for a counter-revolution organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency under Frank Sturgis. After the capture of Matos, the operation eventually evolved into the Bay of Pigs Invasion.