Enrique Pollack on Remembering Tony Bryant

TONY BRYANT A hero not forgotten in my heart!

Tony Bryant: Ten Years After! Tony Bryant died in 1999, a true hero who spoke the truth, ten years later and his name is all but forgotten. Why?

Tony Bryant, a former Black Panther who became an anti-Castro paramilitary after spending 11 years a Cuban prison, has been largely ignored by the US Media. Mr. Bryant was well-loved by the Cuban exile community, which may be the reason for his being overlooked. He was viewed as a hero, says John Suarez of the Free Cuba Foundation "He would be going up and down Eighth Street with his black beret and black military outfit, and was greeted with a hero's welcome at all times."

A California native, Mr. Bryant became involved with street gangs and heroin in his teens. He became one of the most powerful of the Black Panthers, nicknamed "Mr. Eliminator."
Mr. Bryant's revolutionary illusions crumbled in 1969 when he hijacked a National Airlines flight bound from New York to Miami, and diverted it to Havana. Expecting a warm welcome, and hoping to trade the jet for weapons to fuel a Black Panther revolt, Mr. Bryant instead landed in prison.

His mistake: Stealing money from the flight's passengers, one of whom turned out to be a Cuban agent. Mr. Bryant's philosophy changed in the cramped, foul-smelling prison, where severe beatings and execution were a constant threat. He chronicled the nightmarish experience in a book titled Hijack, which he had been attempting to make into a movie. However, former Black Panthers who embrace democracy and repudiate radical terror are not 'en vogue' in Hollywood. The movie would seem to be a no brainer, it has all the elements, the 60's, the Black Panther, the embracing of non violence and his catharthis of loving the USA,and all our nation stands for. However it has one major caveat, Castro's Cuba is hell and Miami's Cuban exiles had it right all along. Apparently, that is just one thing Hollywoood cannot tolerate!

Its a great story nevertheless: In 1980, Mr. Bryant was released by Fidel Castro in a deal brokered by President Jimmy Carter. He got only five years' probation for the hijacking charge.
Mr. Bryant became involved with Comandos L, a militant anti-Castro group founded by former Havana cellmate Tony Cuesta. In 1992, he was charged with carrying weapons for Comandos L on his boat. He was acquitted in 1993. Imagine a Black Panther teaming up with an Anti-Castro group, the irony, the heresy!

Later on, friends say, Mr. Bryant had sought more-peaceful solutions. In 1996 he resigned from Comandos L, and in 1997 he campaigned for the Miami City Commission. He no longer sought a war in Cuba. "I don't want to see an internal conflict [in Cuba] where lots of innocent people are killed," he told the Sun-Sentinel in 1997. "Life is too beautiful to die like that."

"He came to one of our meetings with a flower in the canon of his rifle, embracing our philosophy of peaceful struggle," said Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the nonviolent group Movimiento Democracia. "We thought that that was a pretty nice gesture on his side, for a man who had always embraced traditional war methods."

I met Tony Bryant on my radio show, Havana Rock in 1998, he spoke of his nervousness on the National Airlines plane and he recalled the horror he witnessed in Castro's Cuba. He couldn't imagine how anyone could possibly support what he called "the most rascist and reppressive society he had ever seen". He didn't strike me as a hijacker, you could sense in him an inner peace and someone who had witnessed a sort of catharsis, that the USA is not so bad after all, in fact, as he stated to me, it was the greatest country on Earth!

Mr. Bryant completed a screenplay based on his book, said his companion of six years, Jennifer Viscasillas. She hoped to make the movie a reality. Nothing ever happened. Apparently Hollywood is still not listening or they are afraid of the message. As a moderate Cuban-American, I think his story should be told and not ignored. I will never forget him or his message. No freedom loving American should ever forget his story. It's a whopper!

Enrique Pollack