death_date birth_place birth_date known_for article_title name occupation
november 12 , 2013 cuba 1924 involvement in cuban politics manuel ray rivero
 manuel ray rivero engineer politician
manuel ray rivero

manuel ray rivero -lrb- 1924-november 12 , 2013 -rrb- was a cuban born engineer , politician and revolutionary , who was later involved in civic and professional actitivities in puerto rico .
he received a scholarship from the cuban ministry of public works to study civil engineering at the university of utah .
he returned to cuba in 1949 to work in the field of engineering , and later became project manager for the construction of the havana hilton hotel .
in his early career , he was also involved in several other major engineering projects , earning a reputation as one of the leading cuban structural engineers of his time .
in 1957 , he formed the civic resistance movement to defeat the regime of fulgencio batista .
the civic resistance movement undertook multiple sabotage and propaganda actions against the batista regime , principally in havana and other major cities of cuba .
its actions have been considered one of the principal reasons for the eventual collapse of the batista regime .
after fidel castro took power in cuba ray accepted the position of minister of public works -lrb- january , 1959 -rrb- .
during his short tenure as minister of public works , ray recruited a number of highly qualified young professionals to work in a very ambitious program aimed at modernizing infrastructure .
in november 1959 , ray resigned from his position due to his disagreement with the increasing communist influence in the cuban government .
by the end of the year , 12 of the 29 ministers originally assigned had resigned or been removed .
this led him , in may 1960 , to form the revolutionary movement of the people -lrb- mrp -rrb- and join the underground resistance to castro .
soon the anti-castro organization had an active membership in each of cuba 's six provinces .
the mrp was designed as a progressive organization , and it clearly did not wish to turn back the clock , or re-instate the 1940 constitution .
instead , it proposed a continuation of laws passed by castro and the revolution , including the nationalization of all utilities .
eventually ray was forced to leave cuba or face jail and/or execution .
he entered the united states on november 10 , 1960 , but he was n't exactly welcomed by several cuban-american leaders , such as manuel artime , because his group had been to the left of other miami-based anti-castro groups .
john f. kennedy wanted ray to join the cuban revolutionary council -lrb- crc -rrb- and ray finally agreed to do so three weeks before the bay of pigs invasion .
about a month after the failed invasion , on may 28 , 1961 , ray gave a news conference in miami announcing his break with the crc .
his reasons were that priority should have been given to underground fighters in cuba , members of batista 's regime should not have been involved in the invasion , and he should have had a `` say '' about the military leaders of the invasion .
he added that to overthrow castro , it would be necessary to mobilize the discontented people in cuba , to which he had more access than any of the cia-selected leaders .
in puerto rico , ray began working as a special consultant for the puerto rico planning board and developed a close relationship with then governor luis muñoz marín .
however , he also continued his anti-castro activities , founding the jure , -lrb- `` junta revolucionaria cubana '' -rrb- , a movement named after the one founded in the 1890s by josé martí in new york .
this movement operated independently of the other anti-castro groups of the time , and , unlike many of the other groups , was not overtly supported by the cia .
in 1963-65 , the jure organized several actions against the castro government .
in the last of these actions , ray along with several members of the jure , was arrested at anguila cay in the cay sal bank by the bahamian coast guard .
the group was using the small deserted island as a staging area for attacks against cuba .
the bahamian government confiscated all weapons and supplies and briefly jailed the group , who eventually was deported back to the u.s. .
after the arrest , ray returned to puerto rico and to his professional career as an engineer .
he ceased his involvement in armed actions against the castro government , but continued political activities against the castro regime .
however , mr. ray became increasingly involved in puerto rican civic and political activities , serving as ad-honorem advisor to governors rafael hernández colón and aníbal acevedo vilá , mayor héctor luis acevedo and gubernatorial candidate victoria muñoz mendoza .
in 1967 , along with juan l. melendez , former head of the cuban water and sewer agency , he founded an engineering firm in san juan , puerto rico .
the firm , ray architects and engineers , has been involved in multiple projects in puerto rico and the caribbean .
after retirement following a stroke in 1999 , ray served as the company ′ s chairman emeritus .
due to his contributions to puerto rican society , ray was awarded the luis muñoz marín medal by the government of puerto rico in the early 2000s .
