Generoso Bringas

Generoso Bringas is a survivor of the counter-revolutionary struggle in the Escambray mountains in the early 1960s. Bringas was General Secretary of the Revolutionary Recovery Movement (MRR) - an organization he founded together with Manuel Artime, leader of Brigade 2506 whose members invaded Cuba on April 17, 1961 at Playa Girón.

Bringas was born in Jovellanos. He began working at a very young age in the sugarcane fields of the province to financially support his family. With the help of the American Methodist Church, he studied and later worked as a tour guide.

In 1956 he joined the rebel forces fighting against the regime of Fulgencio Batista, reaching the rank of lieutenant in January 1959. Just a month later, in February, he was already participating in conspiracies against the newly created revolutionary government.

He began his clandestine struggle, served in the Revolutionary Recovery Movement, months later he joined a guerrilla force operating in Matanzas province commanded by Juan José "Piche" Catalá. Serving in that force and after having participated in several confrontations against units of the Struggle Against Bandits, LCB. In those years he participated in internal operations supporting the Bay of Pigs invasion and traveled to the United States to train in clandestine activities.

His career, under the supervision of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, led him to participate in commando operations such as infiltrations or exfiltrations of agents in and out of Cuba.

He returned to Cuba on several occasions with the purpose of delivering weapons obtained and joining the insurgents. It was not possible, the situation within the Island was extremely complicated, and he could not establish contact with his fellow fighters.

Some time later he joined Cubans who under the leadership of Manuel Artime operated in Central America. When this operation concluded he was proposed to go to Africa to fight communism. At first he was hesitant, but ultimately concluded it was his duty to go, to continue fighting, although on this occasion the struggle was not directly aimed at Cuba.

One of his best-known actions was his fight against Ernesto Che Guevara's Cuban guerrilla in the Congo, the so-called "Operation Makasi".

Bringas was assigned to a boat named "La Gitana", commanded by captain Remigio Arce on Lake Tanganyika, with a crew of compatriots.

In 2009 he was one of the organizers of the First Congress of the Cuban Political Prisoners. In 2011 he was called to testify in the trial against Luis Posada Carriles in a court in El Paso.