Insider: My Hidden Life as a Revolutionary in Cuba

Llovio-Menendez maintains that he returned to Cuba from France, where he was studying medicine, in the 1960s not to join the revolution but to penetrate the system in order to rescue his uncle, imprisoned for counterrevolutionary activity. He failed to save his uncle, but went on to forge a career in the film and sugar ministriesand plotted his own escape. At one point, Llovio-Menendez was himself imprisoned. The most dramatic sections of the book have to do with his guise as a ``revolutionary persona'' and the conflict he felt over his double life. A suspenseful personal story, the credible memoir also provides a harsh look at the Cuban revolution, the ``repression, paranoia, and deceit,'' plus glimpses of Castro, his brother Raul, Che Guevara and Celia Sanchez. Llovio-Menendez ultimately made good his escape and now lives in the U.S. Photos. (July)