Raul Villamia's childhood in Cuba revolved around baseball and bloodshed. The violence that he witnessed led him to support Castro's revolution, and his brother Mario introduced him to Castro's 26th of July Movement (M267). Minor league baseball brought him to the United States, where he hoped to pursue a career in the majors, and left Villamia uniquely placed to aid Castro's revolution from abroad. From Tampa, New York City, Bridgeport, Union City, Miami, and Key West, the Villamias, Angel Perez-Vidal, Howard K. Davis and others supported Castro through fundraising, collecting supplies for the revolutionaries, propaganda campaigns, and arms smuggling. Raul rubbed elbows with Castro and his top men and with American gangsters who did business in Cuba. He was hounded by the FBI, and his brother Mario is mentioned in the Warren Commission Report. This memoir recalls Villamia's experience as an advocate for Castro in the United States and tells the story of those in America whose efforts helped to oust Batista. For Cuba―for Freedom! represents a magnificent contribution to the history of Tampa and its entangled relationship with Cuba. Through family conversations, Spanish-language and English-language newspapers, and interviews, Rhonda Villamia and Paul Guzzo have written a book covering Ybor City and West Tampa, the role of Fidel Castro and sympathizers in Tampa, foiled revolutions and a revolution that is still unfolding.”―Gary R. Mormino, professor of history and co-author of The Immigrant World of Ybor City “The adage that everything global is local possesses a special resonance in For Cuba―for Freedom! Family history mixes with the stories of neighbors and neighborhood and joins with lore and legends, thereupon to re-mix with first-person reminiscences and oral history with Tampa as setting of the Cuban Revolution. A rich vein to mine for new insights in and added knowledge of the critical years of the 1950s, both in Tampa and Cuba.”―Louis A. Pérez, Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Jose Marti's 1891 audience of cigar-workers in Tampa embraced his vision for an independent Cuba: ‘With All and For The Good of All.’ Decades later, they understood Fidel Castro's call for a second independence movement to realize that vision. This book is an important work that contains much new information never before published or known. It is the hidden, taboo history that was silenced and forbidden for decades...which has answered many of the questions I have had for years! To have Raul Villamia's spirit and voice telling the story...is the greatest gift...”―Maura Barrios, community historian of West Tampa, assistant director of Latin American & Caribbean Studies (retired), University of South Florida, Tampa “Raul Villamia’s memories, edited into a narrative book by his daughter Rhonda and journalist Paul Guzzo, brims with details about the founding and functions of the 26th of July Movement in Florida. As one of the men chosen to run the organization in Tampa by Fidel Castro himself, Villamia’s observations have the authority of an insider who was there. However one feels about Castro and his Communist regime, this is a story that needs to be told.”―Andrew Huse, curator of Florida Studies, University of South Florida Libraries, author of The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture and Cuisine “Just when you think you know all about the Cuban Revolution, here is a new book with the aroma of a Tampa cigar. Rhonda Villamía, a native tampeña, brings to life, in her father’s own words, Raúl Villamía’s experiences of his early role in support of Fidel Castro’s Revolution and subsequent disillusionment with it. She sums up not only local historical linkages to Cuba and the island's political corruption as motivators for supporting the nascent M-26-7, but also includes accounts of others in different American cities who joined Castro's struggle to unseat U.S. backed Fulgencio Batista. The book carries us from Cuba's birth, through tumultuous years leading up to Batista's coup, culminating in Castro's rise to power, and ending with broken relations between our two nations. Rhonda and collaborator Paul Guzzo's research fills a gap in the historical record by highlighting Tampa's and other cities' interactive role with the Cuban Revolution, only 90 miles away from our coast. Highly informative and original!”―Carlos J. Cano, Ph.D, associate professor of Spanish, Hispanic Culture, Film and Literature (retired), University of South Florida, Tampa “Ever since the end of the 19th century, Tampa’s Cuban community has been a hotbed for fostering ideas of freedom and democracy in Cuba. This work, For Cuba―for Freedom! , provides insight into the 1950s chapter of this ongoing story and Tampa’s role. It shows the conflicted effort to oust the Batista government by Tampeños. As all hoped for the repression and corruption to come to an end, some vocally took up the cause while others are qu