A former Cuban lieutenant colonel who spent nearly two decades in prison after the purges of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) in the 1990s has a clear response for those in exile who view the Cuban Army as an enemy: they are mistaken.
Máximo Omar Ruiz Matoses, born in Guantánamo in 1945 and currently residing in Spain, was arrested in November 1990 after calling for the resignation of Fidel and Raúl Castro during a high-command meeting. He served 20 years in prison, charged with desertion, espionage, and disrespect, among other accusations. His arrest occurred in the repressive atmosphere that followed the execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa, Tony de la Guardia and two other officers on July 13, 1989, a purge that the regime used to discipline commanders who had gained autonomy and discontent.
In an interview with Tania Costa at CiberCuba, Ruiz Matoses directly addressed the debate about the role of the military in a possible Cuban transition. "When some civilians express opinions about the Army... On the contrary, we need to try to engage them because these are the men and women that Cuba will inevitably have to rely on in the future when it is liberated," he stated.
The former official argues that rejecting or demonizing the military would be a strategic mistake with serious consequences. In his view, not all commanders hold the same weight, but some are decisive: "Perhaps a staff officer may not be critical, but a commanding officer, a brigade, mechanized troops, can completely turn the tide."
In this regard, he highlighted that when he was purged in the 90s, there remained in the Army military personnel who were already discontented then and who have continued to rise in rank and gain more power. He emphasized that they suffer from shortages and blackouts just like the rest of the Cubans and that, predictably, their discontent has not disappeared.
His analysis goes beyond strategy: it points to the internal erosion of the regime. Ruiz Matoses describes how the subordinate FAR officers —from captain down— are already living under the same conditions as the rest of the population. "The subordinate officer comes home to rest, to be with family... his wife says to him: Papo, I can't even offer you coffee because the quota is gone," he recounted. The salary perks that the regime offers, he adds, do not compensate for this reality: "They may give some perks, a higher salary, and what do they buy with that? What’s the price of eggs now?
That accumulated disaffection, he argues, could quickly lead to a break if the people take to the streets again like they did on July 11, 2021. "If you call the last one with the plague, they will fall within 24 hours, just so you know," he warned.
Ruiz Matoses is also the father of two well-known activists: the biologist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola—who was sentenced for contempt in 2018 and released after a hunger strike—and his sister Omara Ruiz Urquiola. Regarding them, the former military man does not hide his pride or sense of responsibility: "I am certainly proud of them. What I say the most is that I am responsible for them having stood up and moved forward." But the family price has been high: "Today, my family is scattered across the planet. I have none of them with me."
The interview was recorded on Thursday, August 13, the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth, a circumstance that Ruiz Matoses used to draw a damning comparison. "It wasn’t socialism or communism; it was a dictatorship. And it wasn’t a soft dictatorship like Pinochet’s, which opened the door for elections when it left power," he pointed out.
Regarding the legacy of the founder of Castroism, he was even more emphatic: "I hope that if Cuba is liberated, the stone where it says his ashes are located is thrown into the Mariana Trench, which is over 11 kilometers deep, so that not even bad spirits can emerge from there."
Ruiz Matoses sought asylum in Spain and became a part of the Cuban Movement of Military Conscientious Objectors, an organization co-founded in February 2021 alongside retired Brigadier General Rafael del Pino and other former officials, with the aim of urging the Armed Forces not to suppress the Cuban people.
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