Tony Cuesta (13 June 1926 — 2 December 1992) was an

anti-Castro The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent. Backg ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n activist.

Life

Cuesta was educated at the

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the firs ...

. Initially a member of the 26th of July Movement and a close supporter of Fidel Castro, Cuesta in 1960 defected to the United States, and in 1961 was one of the founders of the anti-Communist paramilitary organization

Alpha 66 Alpha 66 is an anti-Castro paramilitary organization. The group was originally formed by Cuban exiles in the early 1960s and was most active in the late 1970s and 1980s. Its activities declined in the 1980s. Historian Alan McPherson describes it a ...

. He later set up the guerilla group "Comandos L" (the L standing for ''Libertad'') which operated out of

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

and, under his command, in 1963 sank the Soviet freighter ''Baku'' in Caibarién Harbour. In 1966 Cuesta was captured in Cuba, in a skirmish that cost him a hand and his eyesight. He remained in prison there until 1978. After his release he returned to Miami, and refounded Comandos L. He died in Miami on 2 December 1992. He was married four times.

Sources

Tony Cuesta, Leader Of Anti-Castro Unit, Dies at 66 in Miami
, ''New York Times'', Dec. 4, 1992. 1926 births 1992 deaths Cuban activists University of Havana alumni Cuban prisoners and detainees Cuban emigrants to the United States {{cuba-activist-stub