Baracutey Cubano: Isis Wirth: La bailarina Alicia Alonso y la espía guerrillera Haydee Tamara Bunker Bider

viernes, marzo 29, 2013

Isis Wirth: La bailarina Alicia Alonso y la espía guerrillera Haydee Tamara Bunker Bider

Nota del Bloguista

En http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2141.html se lee sobre Ulises Estrada:

Ulises fue nombrado por el Comandante Manuel Piñeiro como jefe de la Dirección General del Viceministerio Técnico del MININT, que en lo adelante se encargaría de materializar la solidaridad de la Revolución Cubana con los movimientos de liberación nacional africanos.

Tal Dirección estaba especializada en el trabajo dirigido a: África y además al Medio Oriente, razón por la cual Ulises quedó desvinculado de la atención directa o indirecta que hasta ese momento había mantenido con el «caso Tania».

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Tomado de http://www.cubaencuentro.com/

La bailarina y la espía guerrillera

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De cómo Tamara Bunke, alias “Tania” La Guerrillera, alias Laura Gutiérrez Bauer, se sirvió del ballet y de Alicia Alonso para establecer contacto con el Che Guevara

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Por Isis Wirth

Munich | 29/03/2013

A fines de 1960, el Ballet Nacional de Cuba emprendió una vasta gira por los “países hermanos”: URSS, RDA, Checoslovaquia, Rumanía, Hungría, Bulgaria, República Popular de China, y Corea del norte. En diciembre, la compañía pasó por Berlín oriental. Fue calurosamente acogida por una joven argentina que se presentó como Tamara, traductora, encargada de acompañar a los bailarines a lo largo de su estancia.

La joven había nacido de padre alemán y madre polaca, ambos comunistas, quienes se habían refugiado en Argentina huyéndole al nazismo. Tras el fin de la Segunda Guerra mundial, regresaron a Alemania y se instalaron en el Este para participar en la “construcción de la nueva sociedad”. Su hija, nacida más allá del Atlántico, no había olvidado la lengua de su infancia, y compartía con todo el vigor de su juventud las ardientes convicciones de sus padres. Había conservado una auténtica pasión por América latina y la revolución cubana le interesaba particularmente.

Algunos meses antes, había conocido a Antonio Núñez Jiménez, un viejo amigo de Alicia Alonso, que vino a Berlín a preparar el viaje de una delegación comercial cubana encabezada por Che Guevara, entonces presidente del Banco Nacional de Cuba. Las negociaciones se referirían al sostén económico que los “países hermanos” le otorgarían a la revolución, ya que La Habana debía encarar las primeras represalias económicas por parte de Estados Unidos. El embargo ya se perfilaba. Por medio de una amiga, Tamara Bunke pudo acercarse a Núñez Jiménez. Más tarde fue invitada a reunirse con Ernesto Guevara, en una recepción en Leipzig ofrecida por el Gobierno alemán. Luego,

el Consejo Central de la Juventud Libre Alemana la designó, junto a su madre, como intérprete del Che.

(Alicia Alonso, tocando el acordeón, y Tamara Bunke a la derecha. La persona que está en el centro no ha podido ser identificada.)

Se estableció una corriente de afinidad y simpatía entre Tamara, Alicia y el resto de la compañía. Naturalmente, fue requerida para acompañar al Ballet cuando éste hizo una segunda parada en Berlín. Mientras tanto, en abril de 1961, en la víspera del desembarco en la bahía de Cochinos, Fidel Castro proclama el carácter socialista de la revolución. La troupe se encontraba en Corea del norte cuando se produjo “la invasión” y la nueva victoria del pueblo que había repelido a los agresores.

La argentina estableció vínculos aun más estrechos con los artistas y le expresó a la prima ballerina su deseo de viajar a Cuba para observar, con sus propios ojos, la construcción del socialismo en la Isla. Para su suerte, un bailarín mexicano había decidido permanecer en Europa y su billete de regreso estaba disponible. Alicia Alonso se lo propuso a su joven interlocutora, y fue bajo su protección que Tamara Bunke arribó a Cuba el 12 de mayo.

El asunto no había sido, no obstante, fácil. Tamara tuvo que usar toda su fuerza de persuasión para obtener la indispensable aprobación de la Seguridad de la República Democrática Alemana. La Stasi consideraba en efecto que la argentina era un excelente elemento (Tamara hablaba ruso, alemán, inglés, español, era culta y no estaba desprovista de encanto); no tenía por qué privarse de sus servicios, incluso si éstos fueran a ser aprovechados por otro país comunista. Finalmente, ante su insistencia, Markus Wolf, que dirigía la Stasi, autorizó su partida, al mismo tiempo que rechazaba caución alguna para sus actividades ulteriores. De hecho, ella iba a trabajar simultáneamente para la Stasi, la KGB y Cuba, aun si su madre y su compañero Ulises Estrada (quien fue en la Isla uno de sus instructores militares y uno de los principales secuaces de la revolución cubana en el extranjero) han intentado con posterioridad borrar las huellas.

Ya en la Isla, Tamara Bunke hizo contacto con el ministerio de Educación, y luego con el Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (un nido de espías), oficialmente destinado a las relaciones con los simpatizantes de la revolución, pero cuyo rol esencial era vigilar e infiltrar a las representaciones extranjeras. Tamara comenzó al mismo tiempo estudios de periodismo y se propuso ser admitida en el círculo de Che Guevara. No sin algunos contratiempos. Junto a su camarada Ángela Soto, fue a tratar de abordarlo, un día, en uno de esos “trabajos voluntarios” en la construcción, donde él gustaba ser visto como prueba de su participación en el “esfuerzo”. Cuando ella intentó hablar con Guevara, éste la rechazó con sequedad, ordenándole que se arremangara la camisa y se pusiera a trabajar. Ángela Soto, a quien el manejo de ladrillos y del mortero no entusiasmaba particularmente, quiso marcharse, pero Tamara la retuvo, tomándola por el brazo: “Vamos a transportar cemento y arena, porque es lo que quiere el comandante Guevara y es la condición que pone para tomarnos en cuenta”. Aun así, no lo consiguió.

(Ulises Estrada cuyo verdadero nombre es Dámaso Lescaille )

En 1963, los servicios cubanos la convocaron para que se sometiera a un entrenamiento intensivo en espionaje y el manejo de armas. Cuando estuvo bien aguerrida, el Che consintió al fin recibirla en el ministerio de la industria. El trabajo socialista que le iba a proponer no tenía nada que ver con la albañilería: se trataba de abrir nuevos focos guerrilleros en América latina. La misión de Tamara, llamada “Tania”, sería la de infiltrarse en Bolivia para prepararle el terreno. Bajo el nombre de Laura Gutiérrez Bauer, arribó a Bolivia en 1964. Perdió la vida en una emboscada, el 31 de agosto de 1967, cuando el grupo de combatientes que conducía Juan Vitalio Acuña, “Joaquín”, fue atacado por el ejército boliviano, al haber perdido el contacto con la columna principal, bajo las órdenes de Guevara. Éste fue capturado algunos meses más tarde y ejecutado en La Higuera.

Félix Rodríguez, uno de los agentes de la CIA que participó en el acecho a los guerrilleros cubanos, afirmó haber descubierto más tarde que Tamara Bunke había sido alistada por los servicios soviéticos para vigilar al Che, y que la tarea se le facilitó de alguna manera debido a que era su operadora de radio.

El Ballet Nacional de Cuba le rindió homenaje, representando algunos meses después de su muerte Tania la guerrillera, una obra de propaganda —rápidamente caída en el olvido—, destinada a animar la leyenda revolucionaria de quien Alicia Alonso había introducido en Cuba, facilitándole así, involuntariamente, la faena a los servicios secretos de los “países hermanos”. La bailarina no había visto sino las chispas del fuego, más experta sobre el escenario que en conducción revolucionaria o del espionaje. En este sentido, había algo de verdad cuando alegaba que su única misión era… cultural.

(Extracto del capítulo “Los beneficios de la revolución” del libro La Ballerine et El Comandante. Histoire secrète du Ballet de Cuba, de Isis Wirth, de próxima aparición en François Bourin Éditeur.)

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Tomado de http://www.essortment.com

Tamara Bunke: Kgb Spy And Communist Soldier

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Tamara Bunke worked as a Cuban guerrilla under the name Tania; she also worked as a KGB spy sucessfully infiltrating the Cuban government.

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Haydée Tamara Bunke Bilder was born in Buenos Aires, Argentinia on November 19th, 1937. Her parents, Nadja and Erich Bunke, were German Jewish communists who fled to South America in order to avoid Nazi fascism. Both her parents worked as teachers; her mother taught Russian, and her father taught languages, gymnastics, and fitness.

Under what would become auspicious circumstances, Tamara Bunke grew up speaking several languages. In Argentinian schools she learned to speak English and Spanish. Her parents, planning to return to Germany, taught her German. Her mother taught her to speak Russian, hoping that Tamara would read works of Russian communists. Knowing all these languages so fluently, Tamara wanted to become a translator.

In 1951, the Bunke family returned to Germany. The landscape had changed since WWII; the war treaty divided Germany into two sectors, East Germany (DDR) and West Germany (BDR). Naturally, the Bunkes (being a communist family) had no problem settling in the DDR, which the Soviet Union controlled. Nadja and Erich Bunke found good jobs as teachers, and Tamara was nearly finished with high school. In 1952, Tamara and her family worked with a communist youth group called the Association of Sports and Skills. Under this group, Tamara became a women's shooting instructor and won several awards for marksmanship.

With her father's help, Tamara enrolled as a student of political science at Humboldt University. While she attended lectures on the principles of Lenin-Marxist rhetoric, Tamara also trained to become a KGB spy. During her training, the KGB asked her to sleep with wealthy West German businessmen and officials in order to get blackmail information.

In 1956 Tamara became an official translator of Spanish and German. During one of her assignments in 1960, she worked as translator for Che Guevara, a Cuban communist leader. She was so overwhelmed when she heard Guevara's speeches, she longed to visit Cuba. Just a year later, she would translate for the Cuban Ballet when it toured through the DDR. She was so impressed by the stories of the Revolution in Cuba, that she persuaded a ballet performer to give her his ticket back to Cuba. She arrived in Cuba on May 12th, 1961. Only a few months earlier, the KGB entrusted her in their ranks. Knowing that Tamara wanted to bring communism to South America, the KGB encouraged her to work for the Revolution in Cuba. They especially wanted her to sway Che Guevara away from Moaist communism, such that Cuba would become a Soviet satellite country.

Once in Cuba, Tamara Bunke immediately attempted to become a part of its Revolution. However, Cuban leaders were cautious about giving any new immigrant such a high ranking job. Nevertheless, the Cuban government needed a translator, and Tamara was given a high priority job at the Ministry of Education. In 1962 she was allowed to broadcast news on the national radio station. Eventually, she would write songs for the revolution, and would arrange many pro-communist social gatherings. She worked with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People and the Federation of Cuban Women. Ultimately, the Cuban leaders admired her tenacity and her ability to unite the people through creative activities.

By March 1963, Cuban officials were so pleased with Tamara Bunke's accomplishments that they provided her with more operative powers. Living in Havana, she became a leader of revolutionary movements. Her responsibilities included: working mail detail, finding medicine and food, organizing the community, and preparing for war. These responsibilities were so vital to the revolution that she assumed another identity to prevent information leaks. Tamara named this new guerrilla identity---"Tania."

By 1964, Tamara Bunke had found a man who would make a suitable husband. However, she swore that she would never marry until she had achieved victory in the revolution. On April 11, 1964, Bunke wrote a letter to introduce this man to her parents. She warned them that she would not get married yet, but asked if they would consent.

Though this letter was written in sincerity of the matter, Bunke wrote it to keep her parents from knowing what she was really doing. Only a month earlier, Che Guevara had called Bunke into his office. Knowing that Bunke wanted to be a part of the guerrilla revolution, he asked her to become a spy. Bunke would have rather jumped into combat gear, but she understood the importance of espionage to the revolution, espeicially since she was still working as a Soviet spy. With her consent, Guevara sent her to Europe with fake passports. There she learned the principles of Cuban military coding and communications. She was also asked to develop an identity characteristic of the bourgeois society.

As Bunke traveled through Europe, she observed and critiqued bourgeois culture. She noted that women were treated differently in these cultures, often as sex-objects. She observed that bourgeois people centered a significant portion of their lives around organized religion, whether they actually abided to the morals of that religion or not. She also criticized the lower class of these countries. The people who were most hurt in the society were also the most likely to sell-out information to the police and other state agencies. Usually, they would rat each other out for bribes of money or drugs. Bunke's final report concluded that a communist must be suspicious of every class in the bourgeois society.

After traveling, collecting information, and learning French and Italian, the Cuban government sent Bunke to Bolivia. She assumed the identity of Laura Gutierrez, an Argentinian anthropologist. As she traveled through Bolivia, she used her feminine charms to persuade diplomatic figures into giving her information and the strongholds she needed to continue living in Bolivia. She managed to obtain an official Bolivian foreign travel card and a position with the Bolivian Ministry of Education.

The positions at the Bolivian Ministry of Education were completely volunteer-based. A small group of professors kept the project alive, and they were eager to incorporate a young foreign anthropologist. They were most pleased to see that Bunke owned a tape recorder, since they had been requesting one from the government for years. They asked her to record the sounds of Native Bolivian folk rituals in the area. Tamara not only taped these folk rituals, but she arranged folk dances and cultural events in the Bolivian cities.

Eventually, Che Guevara sent members of the Cuban Army into Bolivia. A representative met with Bunke and told her the news. Bunke was so thrilled that she insisted on moving from espionage into combat. The representative explained the importance of her work, and encouraged her to continue everything she was doing. Bunke said that she understood, but made other plans.

When Che Guevara set-up camp near Bunke's residence in Bolivia, she visited him in the jungles. This time she insisted that he file her into the ranks of his guerrilla army. Guevara rejected her desires and told her to continue at her post. But as Bunke left, she noticed Bolivian troops headed for Guevara's camp. She rushed back to warn him. Then Guevara's troops prepared for combat, and Tamara Bunke fought her first guerrilla battle.

Tamara Bunke treked through the Bolivian jungles with Guevara's army. As soldiers became sick, they left the campaign. But Bunke, having a fever over 102F, continued onward.

On August 31, 1967, as the guerrillas crossed a river near Puerto Marico, the Bolivian Army opened fire. Tamara Bunke was in the middle of the river, when a bullet shot through her left lung. Her body washed downstream, where it was found seven days later. She was found to be 4 months pregnant.

The life of Tania, the guerrilla identity of Tamara Bunke, still lives in the poetry, songs, and art of the Cuban people. They rejoice her as a communist heroine who played an important role in the struggle for Cuban nationality. Thus, Tania appears in Cuban artwork, often portrayed beside Che Guevara. The KGB denies working with her, even though she is considered one of their most successful spies.