Diego R. Suárez

* 1926

Cuba, Emigrant
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    Who was Fidel Castro?

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    My experience with Fidel Castro was very bad, Fidel Castro was not a good person, not an honest student, he was more of a gangster and rather liked to create problems and was not at all brave. He was very manually skilled, and had no idea of the obstacles. The friendship was worthless to him and then he was a great conscious manipulator of people. Note that at the time he was a student, he could not be a student leader of the University of Havana, although there were other student leaders who had this leadership. Fidel Castro was an individual with his ambitions, and that is why the Soviet Union chose him. And it's not like so many historians think that Fidel Castro betrayed the revolution and later became a communist. It was not like that; Fidel Castro betrayed absolutely no revolution. It is presented to people this way, but the plan was perfect, very well thought out. As a student, he didn't know they were using him. He was an individual who was being prepared by the Soviet intelligentsia to be a leader when they needed him. That's what happened. His brother, Raúl Castro, who is the youngest of the boys, saw through his brother's eyes. Yes, he was a communist for sure. Fidel Castro was the excluded one and no one knew what Fidel Castro thought. He acted as if he were a politician at the time, with the ambition of being a member of the House of Representatives to gain power.

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    National Cuban American Foundation

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    In 1980, the Cuban-American National Foundation was established. Led by Jorge Mas Canosa, who was a great leader, we managed to connect a group of men who gave not only our efforts, and our word, but also our money. At the foundation, I was in charge of international relations, and as part of that, we visited all the presidents of South and Central American countries, Mexico, the Caribbean and many European countries. And we flew on my company's plane, as my company was so strong that we had a plane carrying us. I offered the plane to the foundation for its needs. I was practically a foreign minister, but without any propaganda. In all Latin American countries, the sugar industry has been very strong and still is. I established trade relations with all countries and met the presidents. The fact is that Jorge Mas Canosa and Diego Suarez visited all, absolutely all the countries, and brought the truth about the cause of Castro-communist tyranny in Cuba and the cause of freedom and democracy, in which the Americans supported us. President Reagan was our first great ally in this regard, and during President Reagan's office we founded Radio Marti on May 20, 1985, and then in 1990 we also established the Marti television channel. It was a success.

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    I have never been part of the Castro government

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    At the beginning, when the nation's first "occupation" took place in 1959, I had a plant, I had a lot of equipment and supplies, and they were buying, the government was, and in 1959 it paid for all the equipment, they called it the first "harvest." In Cuba, we were the most important company when it came to the sugar industry, and they used us. We were practically volunteer advisers, and I attended some meetings at the Agrarian Reform Institute as a guest chaired by Fidel Castro and other revolutionary commanders who were young and did not belong to the government, nor did I ever belong to the government. Even in the company before the revolution, I did not under any circumstances grant any political preferences. I remained completely apolitical, just private entrepreneur. But when the revolution took place, the government turned out to be a great customer in the beginning, and we sold much and got paid.

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    Miami, USA, 11.04.2019

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    Miami, USA, 11.04.2019

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    duration: 01:25:45
    media recorded in project Memoria de la Nación Cubana / Memory of the Cuban Nation
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I was lucky to live in the United States, but I was unlucky not to live in my country.

Suárez Diego R. (en)
Suárez Diego R. (en)
photo: Post Bellum
photo: Post Bellum
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Diego Suarez was born November 11, 1926 into a poor peasant family in Cuba. He had eight siblings. He graduated from the Higher Technical Lyceum, a school that was founded for children from socially weaker families. But already at this school he discovered his passion for technology, technical machines and their production. In 1944 he went to the capital of Cuba, where he continued with his hobby and he managed to build a large company that produced agricultural machinery and necessary equipment especially for the processing of sugar cane. After the revolution, he worked as an adviser at the Cuban Agricultural Institute, and the government bought equipment and equipment from his company for government purposes. In the early 1960s, however, the situation ceased to be bearable, and Diego decided to leave for the US with his family. He had the necessary permits for everything. Upon arrival in the US, he tried to continue his work. Diego managed to develop a new type of tires for agricultural machinery and became a recognized industrialist. Not only because of his position, but also because of his good economic situation, he supported Cuban exile in the fight for freedom and democracy on the island. He financed various projects, helped to establish foundations, stood at the birth of Radio Martí and later also the TV channel Martí. He was always convinced that people needed to hear the truth not only about Fidel Castro, but also about the horrors that people on the island must experience. Diego knows he’ll never return to his homeland, but he hopes his children and grandchildren will succeed. His desires, endeavours and dreams for Cuba to be a free country again will not be silenced. On the contrary, his company even lent one of the foundations an aircraft, in which its representatives were transported around the world for negotiations with important statesmen.

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