BARACUTEY CUBANO

MANOLO RAY RIVERO, SILVIA ODIO Y MIRTA BORRÁS

Por Esteban Fernández
Mayo 30 de 2016

A través de los años el régimen cubano se ha dado a la tarea de atacar y desprestigiar a quienes consideran sus enemigos. Ligan verdades con mentiras en hechos unas veces ciertos y otras inventados por ellos.

Los órganos propagandísticos castristas lo mismo dicen que “Armando Valladares fue un esbirro de la policía batistiana”  que ahora acusan al luchador anticastrista Virgilio Paz Romero de un crimen cometido en Chile hace 40 años y  que Virgilio me asegura que es la primera vez que escucha el nombre del occiso.

Pero hay un hecho histórico en la captura de Manolo Ray Rivero cerca de Cayo Anguila -que yo conozco perfectamente bien- donde ellos en todas sus informaciones cambian el nombre de mi íntima amiga Mirta Borrás por el de Silvia Odio.

Ellos dicen -e insisten hasta la saciedad- que Silvia Odio utilizaba el seudónimo de “Mirta Borrás” y que era la amante de Manuel Ray. Completamente incierto.

(Manolo Ray)

Por una razón que desconozco los aparatos de desinformación de la tiranía quieren involucrar y desprestigiar a Silvia Odio y a Manolo Ray. Y de paso ensuciar la vida de la vertical combatiente Mirta Borrás.

Ya con anterioridad acusaron a Silvia Odio de haber estado implicada en la muerte de Kennedy por la sencilla razón de que Lee Harvey Oswald la había visitado en su casa de New Orleáns. Podemos interpretar también que la encarnación con esta muchacha puede ser  porque su padre, Amador Odio Padrón,  estuvo muchos años preso en Cuba acusado de haber querido ajusticiar a Fidel Castro.

(En la foto: Mirtha Borrás, en prácticas de telegrafía junto a Esteban Fernández (en el extremo derecho de la foto, con sombrero) junto a otros patriotas)

Lo cierto es que Mirta Borrás es una gran muchacha, una patriota camagüeyana, con la cual pasé mucho tiempo junto a ella aprendiendo telegrafía en una casa de seguridad del JURE donde no podíamos salir a ningún lugar. Mirta, desde muy chiquita, fue criada por María y Rogelio Cisneros el segundo jefe del JURE. Jovencita, bonita, delgadita, que en ningún momento se hubiera ligado románticamente con Manolo Ray 30 o 40 años mayor que ella. Y si lo hubiera hecho yo me hubiera enterado porque nos confiábamos mutuamente.

Y en lo que respecta a Manuel Ray Rivero puede cada cual tener las criíicas políticas que desee, inclusive yo tengo las mías. Pero lo que nadie debe poner en dudas es que era un caballero. Sobre todo con las compañeras del movimiento.

Su casa en Puerto Rico, la cual visité muchísimas veces, era un recinto lleno de vida hogareña donde él estaba rodeado de una familia que mucho lo quería. Su finura, decencia y esmerada educación, con una bata de casa de seda y una pipa en su boca me hacía preguntarme: “Y ¿este hombre por qué se querrá involucrar en este berenjenal?”

No obstante lo antes dicho -y de estar en contacto telefónico con Mirta- ante la mentira repetida cien veces por los voceros de la Seguridad del Estado me cayó la duda: ¿Será cierto que Mirta se llama Silvia Odio y yo he estado engañado por mucho tiempo?

Y llamé a Miguel Uría -que es amigo de la familia Odio y que conoce perfectamente a Silvia- e inmediatamente le envié una foto de Mirta. Me contestó no que se parecía en nada a Silvia.(En la foto de la derecha: Silvia Odio)

Además de eso Miguel Uría le informó sobre el particular a César Odio (el que había sido Administrador de la ciudad de Miami) y le enseñó la foto y éste también desmintió que se trataba de su hermana Silvia.

Así es que sirvan estas líneas para desmentir una de las miles de calumnias de la tiranía, defender la integridad de dos damas decentes, y limpiar la memoria de Manolo Ray Rivero.
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Tomado de https://en.wikipedia.org/

Manuel Ray Rivero (1924 – November 12, 2013) was a Cuban born engineer, politician and revolutionary, who was later involved in civic and professional actitivities in Puerto Rico.[1] He received a scholarship from the Cuban Ministry of Public Works to study civil engineering at the University of Utah. He returned to Cuba in 1949 to work in the field of engineering, and later became project manager for the construction of the Havana Hilton Hotel. In his early career, he was also involved in several other major engineering projects, earning a reputation as one of the leading Cuban structural engineers of his time.

In 1957, he formed the Civic Resistance Movement to defeat the regime of Fulgencio Batista. The Civic Resistance movement undertook multiple sabotage and propaganda actions against the Batista regime, principally in Havana and other major cities of Cuba. Its actions have been considered one of the principal reasons for the eventual collapse of the Batista regime.

After Fidel Castro took power in Cuba Ray accepted the position of Minister of Public Works (January 1959). During his short tenure as Minister of Public Works, Ray recruited a number of highly qualified young professionals to work in a very ambitious program aimed at modernizing infrastructure.

In November 1959, Ray resigned from his position due to his disagreement with the increasing Communist influence in the Cuban government. By the end of the year, 12 of the 29 ministers originally assigned had resigned or been removed. This led him, in May 1960, to form the Revolutionary Movement of the People (MRP) and join the underground resistance to Castro. Soon the anti-Castro organization had an active membership in each of Cuba's six provinces. The MRP was designed as a progressive organization, and it clearly did not wish to turn back the clock, or re-instate the 1940 Constitution. Instead, it proposed a continuation of laws passed by Castro and the Revolution, including the nationalization of all utilities.

Eventually Ray was forced to leave Cuba or face jail and/or execution. He entered the United States on November 10, 1960, but he wasn't exactly welcomed by several Cuban-American leaders, such as Manuel Artime, because his group had been to the left of other Miami-based anti-Castro groups.

John F. Kennedy wanted Ray to join the Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC) and Ray finally agreed to do so three weeks before the Bay of Pigs Invasion. About a month after the failed invasion, on May 28, 1961, Ray gave a news conference in Miami announcing his break with the CRC. His reasons were that priority should have been given to underground fighters in Cuba, members of Batista's regime should not have been involved in the invasion, and he should have had a "say" about the military leaders of the invasion. He added that to overthrow Castro, it would be necessary to mobilize the discontented people in Cuba, to which he had more access than any of the CIA-selected leaders.

In Puerto Rico, Ray began working as a special consultant for the Puerto Rico Planning Board and developed a close relationship with then governor Luis Muñoz Marín. However, he also continued his anti-Castro activities, founding the JURE, (Junta Revolucionaria Cubana), a movement named after the one founded in the 1890s by José Martí in New York. This movement operated independently of the other anti-Castro groups of the time, and, unlike many of the other groups, was not overtly supported by the CIA.

In 1963-65, the JURE organized several actions against the Castro government. In the last of these actions, Ray along with several members of the JURE, was arrested at Anguila Cay in the Cay Sal Bank by the Bahamian Coast Guard. The group was using the small deserted island as a staging area for attacks against Cuba. The Bahamian government confiscated all weapons and supplies and briefly jailed the group, who eventually was deported back to the U.S.

After the arrest, Ray returned to Puerto Rico and to his professional career as an engineer. He ceased his involvement in armed actions against the Castro government, but continued political activities against the Castro regime. However, Mr. Ray became increasingly involved in Puerto Rican civic and political activities, serving as ad-honorem advisor to governors Rafael Hernández Colón and Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, mayor Héctor Luis Acevedo and gubernatorial candidate Victoria Muñoz Mendoza.

In 1967, along with Juan L. Melendez, former head of the Cuban water and sewer agency, he founded an engineering firm in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The firm, Ray Architects and Engineers, has been involved in multiple projects in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. After retirement following a stroke in 1999, Ray served as the company′s chairman emeritus.

Due to his contributions to Puerto Rican society, Ray was awarded the Luis Muñoz Marín medal by the government of Puerto Rico in the early 2000s.