Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo

Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo (December 8, 1934 – October 26, 2012) was a revolutionary who led the guerrilla force Second National Front of Escambray during the Cuban Revolution against Fulgencio Batista and later opposed the government of Fidel Castro over its pro-Soviet leanings. His brother Carlos Gutiérrez Menoyo died in the Presidential Palace attack of March 13, 1957.

Life From left to right: Fidel Castro, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, Che Guevara, Augusto Martínez Sánchez, Antonio Núñez Jiménez, William Alexander Morgan and Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo. Gutiérrez Menoyo came from a Spanish family active in the Spanish Civil War and emigrated to Cuba following the victory of Francisco Franco′s forces with his family in 1945.

In Cuba in 1957, Eloy formed and commanded the rebel group Second National Front of Escambray, which fought against president Batista′s dictatorial rule alongside Fidel Castro′s 26th of July Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate of 13 March Movement. In March 1957, he and his brother, Carlos, were part of an attack on the Presidential Palace of Fulgencio Batista; his brother, Carlos, was killed in that attack. However, Eloy and many of his senior officers were never offered a post in the Castro administration. Formed in January–February 1962, Alpha 66 was created too late to take part in April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. After 22 years in prison, Eloy was freed in 1986 after a petition by the Spanish government.

In 2003, Eloy left the USA and returned to Cuba where he would remain for the rest of his life as a "tolerated dissident".

Eloy had at least three wives. He had a daughter in Puerto Rico with his first wife; his second wife, Gladys, remained in Florida with their three sons.