TEACHER FOUGHT CASTRO

St. Joseph teacher fought Castro

By Richard Lake • rlake@clarionledger.com

March 3, 2008

St. Joseph teacher fought CastroBy Richard Lakerlake@clarionledger.com

The high school kids in his science classes at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison don't ask about it much, but behind Ramon Machado's thick Cuban accent lies a story of intrigue.

There are secret agents, nuclear physics, uncommon bravery and a near life-ending explosion.

All this from a suburban teacher who happened to work with the CIA, who happened to oppose Fidel Castro's wicked regime, who happened to play a part in the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion.

Come along for the ride.

"He was one of the bravest men I have ever known," said Harold Feeny, formerly the head of intelligence at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Feeny, 85, retired from the Navy in 1970. He lives in Texas now but recalls vividly what the man code-named "Pete" did back in the early days of Castro's dictatorship.

"It was a noble cause," said Fenny, "and Pete was a noble warrior."

The once-noble warrior is 67 now, is married and has five kids. He teaches engineering, chemistry and physics at St. Joe.

For Machado, the recent news that Castro, 81 and in failing health, resigned is bittersweet.

He marvels at the coincidence that a man who shares his name but none of his ideals - a man considered one of Castro's confidants - is the new vice president of the land where he grew up.

(New Cuban President Raul Castro has appointed 77-year-old Communist Party ideologue Jose Ramon Machado Ventura as the government's No. 2 man.)

Back in 1959, Machado was in his first year studying nuclear engineering at the University of Havana. He said there was much excitement when Castro's revolution took charge of the country. People believed him to be their liberator, he said.

That quickly changed; it became clear that one dictator was being replaced by another.

By early 1960, Machado had gotten involved in a student-protest movement. The students fomented underground resistance, but they believed they needed help from the outside.

A few left for Miami, where help was waiting from the CIA.

The remaining group members drew straws to see who would stay and who would leave for Miami. Machado went to Miami.

His high school friend, Luis Gutierrez, stayed behind.

"When you are 18 years old and you are out to conquer the world, when you see your piece of turf being compromised, it is unavoidable, practically, to get involved," said Gutierrez, now living outside Washington, D.C.

Machado, once he was in Miami, trained with the CIA for what would become the U.S.-led invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs.

Feeny, the former intelligence officer, said he got the OK from his superiors to use Guantanamo to help infiltrate Machado and others like him back into Cuba.

Machado returned a few months ahead of the April 1961 invasion. His task was to create a diversion in the eastern part of Cuba so that Castro's troops would be drawn away from the site of the invasion in the west.

He worked with other underground dissidents to act as, essentially, bait for Castro.
"Ramon was a real hero," said Gutierrez, whose oldest son went on, years later, to marry Machado's oldest daughter.

Days before the invasion, Machado was training a group to work with plastic explosives. He had a backpack full of blasting caps and was working with another one in his hands.

He dropped the blasting cap, and it exploded. So did the rest of them.

Shrapnel sprayed all around, wounding several people, Machado severely.

"They didn't expect him to live," Feeny said.

With help, Machado made his way from the woods to Guantanamo that day, and Feeny had him admitted to the hospital.

"Treat him," he told the medical staff, "as though he's your own brother."

Now, 48 years later, Machado's legs still show scars. He cannot hear in his right ear, but he essentially recovered. He said a piece of shrapnel works its way to the surface of his skin now and then, but otherwise he has no problems.

He stayed in the hospital through the invasion, which turned out to be a disaster.

He returned to America, and over the next few years, like many others, became disappointed with the failure to oust Castro from power.

He moved on, earning a degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Florida.

He worked as a nuclear engineer for Entergy for 29 years, retiring in 2002.

He has been teaching at St. Joe's ever since.

"I always liked the idea of teaching," Machado said.

Ibby Joseph, St. Joe's vice principal, said Machado's real-world experience is an asset in class.

"He brings that perspective to the kids," she said, "that says, 'I know you need to know this because I've been there.' "

He also brings diversity; there aren't, after all, a whole lot of Cuban-born, political dissidents teaching kids in Mississippi.

"I think it helps them all be a little more accepting of people who are different from them," she said.

Like his friends Feeny and Gutierrez, Machado is glad to see Castro go. But Castro's brother, Raul, is seen as no better.

Which means that the ideals Machado and the rest of them fought so hard for so long ago remain unrealized.

"My life is here now," Machado said.




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