Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes, and Cuban Miami

This book masterfully exposes the venality of the right-wing Cuban exile power brokers, especially the suffocating voices of Spanish-language radio in Miami. I can attest to the fact that the book is wholly on the mark. It reveals details about the exile experience that are astonishing, and also very sad. This is the best book I have ever read on the subject, and also on the precarious, often bad-faith relationship between Washington D.C. and Havana.

This well written, meticulously researched book reveals startling information about negotiations between Washington and Havana during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Many of these negotiations have never been mentioned, notably an effort during Reagan's presidency to steal Cuba away from the Soviet orbit. The book provides an honest and probing portrait of Miami's Cuban exile community, and its inability to cope with some of its members who believed that only through dialogue could meaningful relations be opened. The chilling story of how the dialogers were ostracised needs to be read by anyone concerned with issues of freedom of speech and expression. Highly recommended.

I found Robert Levine's new book on Cuba to be insightful and stimulating. As a careful researcher, Professor Levine has found a story within the broader picture of the human drama that has shaped both the Cuban community in Miami and that on the island. The book is brave and thought provoking. It is an essential work for any serious student of Cuban history.

Secret Missions to Cuba: Bernardo Benes, Fidel Castro, and Cuban Miami is well researched, insightful, and vividly detailed work that examines the complicated and emotional dynamics of United States-Cuban relations through the unique lens of Bernardo Benes' honest account of secret negotiations with Fidel Castro and then provides analysis addressing the passionately charged sentiments of the exile Cuban-American community in Miami. Explicit naratives shall captivate the reader with the juicy detials of high-stakes negotiations. The firsthand account and historical information Dr. Levine has gathered shall serve as an invaluable resource for historians and academics in the years to come. The political dynamics that clearly come into play in the context of these delicate negotiations and emotional relationships is certainly insightful. Secret Missions to Cuba is most certainly a fascinating account of unwavering diplomatic negotiations in a highly emotional and passionate setting. There are certainly lessons from history to be learned by reading this book. Recommended without reservations!