Dámaso José Lescaille Tabares | |
Other Names: | Ulises Estrada Lescaille |
Office: | of Cuba to Jamaica |
Predecessor: | Carlos Larrañaga Díaz |
Successor: | Carlos Larrañaga Díaz |
Office2: | Ambassador of Cuba to |
Successor2: | -: Sergio Armas Rodriguez[1] 14 de octubre de 2008: Buenaventura Reyes Acosta[2] |
Office3: | of Cuba to Jamaica |
Predecessor3: | Claudio Ramos Borrego |
Successor3: | Rafael Polanco Sirahojos |
Birth Date: | 11 December 1934 |
Birth Place: | Santiago de Cuba, Cuba |
Death Place: | Havana, Cuba |
Dámaso José Lescaille Tabares (nom de guerre Ulises Estrada;[3] December 11, 1934 – January 27, 2014) was a Cuban revolutionary, journalist, intelligence officer and ambassador.
From a young age, Lescaille Tabares engaged in clandestine activities against the regime of Fulgencio Batista. In 1959, he was among the founders of the Dirección General de Inteligencia. During the early 1960s, he provided training to Tamara Bunke.
In 1965, he accompanied Che Guevara to Kigoma, participated in missions during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence, and acquired proficiency in the Swahili language.[4] In 1970, he served as a counselor at the embassy in Algiers. On September 11, 1973, he acted as a military adviser in Santiago de Chile. From 1975 to August 1978, he held the position of deputy head of the American Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
From August 1978 to November 1980, he served as Ambassador in Kingston, Jamaica. On August 30, 1979, Jamaican opposition leader Edward Seaga alleged that Estrada had a questionable background and was recognized as a political activist. In 1980, when Seaga became prime minister, Estrada was declared persona non grata.[5] He subsequently led the Directorate of the Non-Aligned Movement and held the position of Director of Africa and the Middle East in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cuba).
From November 1981 to March 1985, Lescaille Tabares served as ambassador to Aden (South Yemen). From 1987 to 1991, he was ambassador to Algiers, concurrently accredited to Nouakchott, Mauritania, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Lescaille Tabares also assumed the role of editor-in-chief for the newspapers Granma International and El Habanero, as well as the magazine Tricontinental.