The Yankee Comandante: How William Alexander Morgan Helped Win Cuba For Castro And Played A Dangerous Game With The FBI

The New Yorker:

For a moment, he was obscured by the Havana night. It was as if he were invisible, as he had been before coming to Cuba, in the midst of revolution. Then a burst of floodlights illuminated him: William Alexander Morgan, the great Yankee comandante. He was standing, with his back against a bullet-pocked wall, in an empty moat surrounding La Cabaña eighteenth-century stone fortress, on a cliff overlooking Havana Harbor, that had been converted into a prison. Flecks of blood were drying on the patch of ground where Morgan's friend had been shot, moments earlier. Morgan, who was thirty-two, blinked into the lights. He faced a firing squad.

Read the whole story at The New Yorker

Comments

[altopicopublish]

01:13 PM on 10/17/2012

There is a new novel based on the real events surrounding the life of William Morgan as a comadantee in Cuba. It is beautifully written account of Morgan's life as an outcast in the American society who joins Castro. Search for American Rebel on Amazon, as a paperback or kindle.

[av2ts]

02:03 AM on 05/22/2012

Unfortunately this piece gets infected with the same mandatory anti-Castro bias that affects almost all US journalism on Cuba.

While it is true that Morgan was a fidelista (as almost anyone with a brain was then) through most of this, his virulent anti-communism was always present. He had never made any secret of this. He wanted Che, Raul and the other Communists out - and he helped foment plans to try to make it happen. He was guilty of high crimes in any country, and really never contested that.

The main question with Morgan is whether he was also guilty of selling out the Revolution with the earlier Trujillo affair. Almost all accounts of people who were there prefer this version. Morgan simply was not the guy to pull off a very sophisticated double-agent operation. He wanted action and was easily seduced - by money and his mafia friends in Miami, using his anti-communism. He only switched course and notified Fidel when it was clear that the plot had been sniffed out by state security.

In short, Morgan was not a hero - for any side. He was a pretty amazing guy, with an amazing story. But in the end Morgan let everyone down. His cause was picked up by the extreme right in Miami (Alpha 66 is a terrorist organization) and turned into a cause celebrate. In fact, everything shows that Morgan was not a model American, as much as a model Cuban revolutionary.

[imayes]

04:04 PM on 05/21/2012

This would make an excellent movie or miniseries if done right. This is a very intriguing story.

[Oppose obama]

03:57 PM on 05/21/2012

so she's a terrible person who ruined millions of lives?

[gsocratesasks]

02:07 PM on 05/21/2012

Communism is the greatest scourge in Human history..

[WilhelmKein]

02:59 PM on 05/21/2012

You spelled conservatism wrong.

[kilchis]

03:12 PM on 05/21/2012

There have been so many scourges,depending on which side you are on. Originally communism was an ideal political philosophy then it became a guise for totalitarianism,which has had many guises,some of them religious in appearance.Communism seems to work on small scales in monasteries and convents,maybe it would have worked in Chile where it was democratically chosen,we'll never know. So it's not so much communism as it is Castroism,Stalinism,Maoism,etc.. Certainly democracy is the only right and just way to start out and then the people decide what form of government they wish to live under.

[gsocratesasks]

01:30 PM on 05/22/2012

Many people came to the new world in the 1800's to build socialist societies often religious based. They always fail because there's little incentive to do more work than to just enough get by.... Those who did a lot of work complained bout those who didn't and it all falls apart..

[JasonWS]

02:05 PM on 05/21/2012

Incredible writing and research, a compelling story and worthy of a subscription. Just clever all the way around.

[castleblanca]

01:51 PM on 05/21/2012

Most interesting history!

[oldstudent10]

01:50 PM on 05/21/2012

Batista was evil but this attempt to make it appear that Cuba, Castro and socialism/communism is about freedom is a failure except to the ignorant.

[Deparis]

01:42 PM on 05/21/2012

What a fascinating article! Great work, Mr. Grann.

[cathleen]

01:18 PM on 05/21/2012

Fascinating

[Milrepa]

01:05 PM on 05/21/2012

...and his wife Olga? Double or triple agent? Kind of makes you think twice about Oswald, and the allegations that he too was a double agent.

[MendingFences]

12:17 PM on 05/21/2012

The kind of Democracy that Castro brought was Communism at the barrel of a gun.

[oldstudent10]

01:50 PM on 05/21/2012

Yeah, they are really free aren't they?

[Cratewasher]

03:11 PM on 05/21/2012

Here's the kind of "freedom" the cuban exiles promise...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_Flight_455

[Ilovestuff]

12:00 PM on 05/21/2012

all communists will rot in Hell. Does not matter where they are from. He helped execute thousands of people with no trial or jury, he also help enslave the people of cuba for going on 60 years.

[tobo]

12:42 PM on 05/21/2012

Because Battista was so much better, huh?

[hcinco]

01:50 PM on 05/21/2012

No, Batista was not better. But, Batista only lasted a little over seven years. Castro is going to head to 60 years. Now you tell me: Do you really think Castro is better than Batista? Then you don't do math very well. Dream on.

[hcinco]

02:08 PM on 05/21/2012

tobo you need a dose of learning. Batista was in power for a few years. Castro has been coercing his people for nearly six decades.

[JasonWS]

02:04 PM on 05/21/2012

Che, Raul and Fidel were the enemies here. Morgan wasn't a communist, he was actually a freedom fighter in every sense of the word.

[VPerry24]

11:48 AM on 05/21/2012

I am glad Castro took away the country from the crook Baptista! I am sure the Mafia in the USA was the only one suffering because of it. Castro had to gain the power to get the country back on track and away from the USA. We really need to do trade with Cuba, especially sugar and medicine. My take ...

[Milrepa]

01:06 PM on 05/21/2012

Oh, right. Like Castro got the country back on track. Not.

[VPerry24]

03:03 PM on 05/21/2012

Of course not, we cut off the supply lines as well.

[VPerry24]

03:03 PM on 05/21/2012

What, you supported Batista?

[basta]

11:22 AM on 05/21/2012

Amazing story, and well written.