Jesus Yanez Pelletier; Former Bodyguard for Castro

Jesus Yanez Pelletier, 83, a human rights activist who was Fidel Castro’s bodyguard but became his detractor. Yanez Pelletier was often introduced as “the man who saved Fidel,” a reference to his early position as a prison guard who refused orders from President Fulgencio Batista’s army officers to poison Castro during the mid-1950s. That incident occurred during the 22 months Castro was jailed for attacking the Moncada military barracks in Santiago, Cuba, which marked the beginning of Castro’s revolutionary battle. After Castro ousted Batista in 1959, Yanez Pelletier became the new Cuban leader’s bodyguard, even accompanying him to Washington, D.C., to meet with then-Vice President Richard M. Nixon. But over time, Yanez Pelletier became disillusioned with Castro’s government and spent more than a decade in prison for his political views. In recent years, Yanez Pelletier helped form the Cuban Pro Human Rights Committee and was its vice president. On Monday in Havana, of a heart attack.