William Alexander Morgan - Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

Morgan went to Cuba in 1957. He opposed the Batista dictatorship and led a guerrilla force of the Second National Front of the Escambray (Segundo Frente Nacional de Escambray or SFNE) that operated against Batista's soldiers in the Escambray Mountains in central Cuba.

In 1958, he wrote a statement to explain his participation in Castro's revolution, "Why I Am Here". It said in part:

I am here because I believe that the most important thing for free men to do is to protect the freedom of others. I am here so that my son, when he is grown, will not have to fight or die in a land not his own, because one man or group of men try to take his liberty from him. I am here because I believe that free men should take up arms and stand together and fight and destroy the groups and forces that want to take the rights of people away.

In December 1958, Che Guevara joined forces with Morgan's group and the Revolutionary Directorate guerrillas of the Escambray mountains. Together they captured the city of Santa Clara on 31 December. Twelve hours later, Batista fled Cuba. Morgan and his men occupied the city of Cienfuegos on January 1-2, 1959.

In January 1959, he told a reporter that "all I'm interested in is settling down to a nice peaceful existence" but worried how U.S. authorities would respond to his military activities in Cuba. In March 1959, officials of the U.S. embassy in Havana warned Americans that participation in foreign military service could jeopardize their citizenship.

In August 1959, Morgan helped to foil a coup attempt orchestrated by opponents of the revolution in Trujillos's Dominican Republic by pretending to cooperate and then divulging the plot to Fidel Castro.

In September 1959, when most of the two dozen U.S. citizens who had fought with Castro's forces had returned to the U.S., the U.S. State Department revoked his citizenship, a move Morgan promised to contest.

It is sometimes claimed that Morgan orchestrated the March 1960 explosion of the French arms ship La Coubre, but there is no evidence to support this.