posted on January 27, 2004 09:08:57 PM new
No straight answer huh.
FOREWORD
Since 1948 when, as a young student, Fidel Castro participated in the
violence that rocked Colombian society and distributed anti-U.S. propaganda,
he has been guided by two objectives: a commitment to violence and a
virulent anti-Americanism. His struggle since and his forty-two years rule
in Cuba have been characterized primarily by these goals.
In the 1960's Castro and his brother, Raul, believed that the
political and economic conditions that produced their revolution existed in
Latin America and that anti-American revolutions would occur throughout the
continent. Cuban agents and diplomats established contact with
revolutionary, terrorist and guerrilla groups in the area and began
distributing propaganda, weapons and aid. Many Latin Americans were brought
to Cuba for training and then returned to their countries.
At the Tricontinental Conference held in Havana in 1966 and attended
by revolutionary leaders from throughout the world, Castro insisted that
bullets not ballots was the way to achieve power and provided the
institutional means to promote his anti-American, violent line. He insisted
that "conditions exist for an armed revolutionary struggle" and criticized
those who opposed armed struggle, including some Communist leaders in Latin
America, as "traitorous, rightists, and deviationists."
Castro's attempts in the 1960's to bring revolutionary,
anti-American regimes to power failed. His support for guerrillas and
terrorist groups in Guatemala, Venezuela, and Bolivia only produced violence
and suffering to those countries and their people, which repudiated violence
as a means to achieve power. Violence resulted in military regimes coming
to power in several Latin American countries
For the next two decades, the Cuban leadership, supported by the
Soviet Union, modified its tactics. In addition to agents from the America
Department, the subversive arm of Cuba's Communist Party, Castro used his
Armed Forces to help friendly groups achieve power in Latin America and
Africa. In Nicaragua Cuban military personnel, weapons and intelligence
supported and helped bring to power the Sandinistas. In El Salvador, a
bloody civil war in part fomented and aided by Cuba, ended in a stalemate
and a negotiated peace.
In Africa, Castro achieved his most significant victories. The Soviet-Cuban
backed Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) faction was installed in
power in Angola and other Cuban supported regimes came to power throughout
the continent. The Cuban military also trained and supplied the South-West
African Peoples Organization (SWAPO) and the African National Congress
(ANC), forces fighting the South African regime.
Castro also became involved with African-Americans in the U.S. and
with the Macheteros, a Puerto Rican terrorist group. Cuba focused
particular attention on the black struggle in the U.S., providing aid and
training to the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, as well as a
safehaven on the island for black leaders. Castro continuously promoted the
independence of Puerto Rico and supported the Macheteros who committed
terrorist acts and bank robberies in the United States. Several still live
in Cuba.
Cuban military and intelligence personnel aided Middle Eastern
groups and regimes in their struggle against Israel, and Cuban troops fought
on the side of Arab States, particularly Syria, during the Yom Kippur war.
Castro sent military instructors and advisors into Palestinian bases;
cooperated with Libya in the founding of World Mathaba, a terrorist
movement; and established close military cooperation and exchanges with
Iraq, Libya, Southern Yemen, the Polisario Front for the Liberation of
Western Sahara, the PLO and others in the Middle East.
Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, Castro continues to
undermine U.S. policies in the Middle East in several ways: a) by portraying
U.S. actions and diplomacy in the region as those of an aggressor, seeking
to impose hegemony by force, particularly in Iraq and the perpetration of
unjustified economic sanctions on Iraq and Iran; b) by portraying the U.S.
as the main obstacle to a peaceful settlement of the Israel/Arab conflict;
and c) by discrediting U.S. policies and seeking support for Cuba at the
U.N. These anti-American views and policies are conveyed as a systematic
message through a network of Cuban embassies and agents, as well as at the
U.N. and other non-governmental political, religious and cultural
organizations.
While not abandoning his close relationships in the Middle East,
Castro has recently concentrated his support on several groups: the Fuerzas
Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), where Castro, and his new ally
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, see significant possibilities for success; ETA,
the Basque terrorist/separatist organization from Spain, which has found
refuge and support in Cuba, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which
established its Latin American headquarters in Havana.
American policymakers should pay careful attention to the intricate
web of relationships which emerges so clearly from this chronology. It
carefully details Castro's involvement with and support for terrorist
regimes and organizations during the past four decades. Cuba's geographical
location, Castro's continuous connections with these groups and states and
the harboring of terrorists in Havana creates a dynamic that requires
vigilance and alertness.
It should be emphasized that in addition to violence and terrorism, Castro
and his regime, have been for more than four decades, the most vocal and
active proponents of anti-Americanism. The often-repeated view in many
countries that the United States is an evil power, guilty for much of the
problems and sufferings of the developing world, is owed in great part to
the propaganda efforts of Fidel Castro.
Jaime Suchlicki, Director
Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies
September 2001
posted on January 27, 2004 09:10:35 PM new
Castro and Terrorism A Chronology
By Eugene Pons*
1959-1967
[ Glossary of Acronyms ]
* Ra·l Castro and Che Guevara visited Cairo and established
contacts with African liberation movements stationed in and supported by
Cairo. Both Cuban leaders visited Gaza and expressed support for the
Palestinian cause.
* Members of the Dominican Republic "Agrupaci n Pol tica Catorce
de Junio" received military training in Cuba.
* Major emphasis was placed on instructing several hundred
pro-Castro Latin Americans in violence and guerrilla warfare. Dominicans,
Guatemalans, Venezuelans and Chileans were trained in special camps in Cuba
and infiltrated back to their countries.
* Castro established relations with the Algerian FLN; official
and public support was extended, weapons were shipped to the FLN through
Morocco (1960-1961). Cuba provided shelter, medical and educational services
and cooperation in the fields of counter-intelligence and intelligence.
* African leaders from Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria,
South Africa, Spanish Guinea, Tanganyika and Zanzibar arrived in Cuba for
military training.
* Che Guevara engaged in guerrilla operations in
Congo-Kinshasa (former Zaire) in 1965.
* A revolutionary trained in Cuba, John Okello, overthrew the
pro-Western government in Zanzibar in 1964 and proclaimed the "People's
Republic of Zanzibar" which was promptly recognized by Cuba and the Soviet
Union.
* Conference of Latin American Communist Parties held in
Havana agreed to "help actively the guerrilla forces in Venezuela,
Guatemala, Paraguay, Colombia, Honduras and Haiti".
* Group of Venezuelans, members of the Movimiento de la
Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR), trained in Cuba and landed in the Venezuela
coast in the State of Miranda.
* Cuban trained Guatemalans Cesar Montes and Luis Turcios Lima
led a violent terrorist/guerrilla campaign against the government in
Guatemala. Montes organized the Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres (EGP) in
Guatemala. In the 1980's he joined the FMLN in El Salvador and participated
actively in the bloody civil war in that country.
* Cuba welcomed the founding of the PLO. First contacts with
Palestinian FATAH in 1965 in Algiers and Damascus.
* The Tricontinental Conference was held in Havana in January,
1966 to adopt a common political strategy against colonialism,
neocolonialism, and imperialism. Cuba provided the organizational structure
to support terrorist, anti-American groups in the Middle East and Latin
America. The Organization for the Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa,
Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL) was created.
* Fidel Castro created The National Liberation Directorate
(DLN) in Cuba to support revolutionary groups throughout the world. DLN was
responsible for planning and coordinating Cuba's terrorist training camps in
the island, covert movement of personnel and military supplies from Cuba and
a propaganda apparatus.
* A Cuban controlled Latin American Solidarity Organization
(LASO), with its permanent seat in Havana was created to "coordinate and
foment the fight against North American imperialism".
* In Venezuela, Castro made a relentless and determined effort
to create another Cuba by supporting the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberaci n
Nacional (FALN) and promoting violence and terrorism against the
democratically elected regime of R mulo Betancourt.
* Castro sent weapons via Cairo, to the NLF in Southern Yemen.
Cuban agents were sent on fact-finding missions to North and South Yemen
(1967- 1968).
* Cuba published a small book by French Marxist journalist
Regis Debray Revolution in the Revolution, promoting guerrilla warfare in
Latin America. The book was translated into various languages and
distributed widely.
* Cuban supported guerrillas led by Che Guevara moved into
Bolivia in an attempt to create "many Vietnams " in South America.
* Cuba and Syria developed a close alliance and supported
FATAH and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF).
1968-1975
* Cuba continued its military and political support for FATAH
after the Syrians broke with the latter, and Cuban military, political and
intelligence support was granted to other Palestinian organizations.
* Castro sent military instructors and advisors into
Palestinian bases in Jordan to train Palestinian Fedayeen (1968); first
high-level delegation from FATAH-PLO visited Cuba (1970).
* Several missions sent to Southern Yemen to support NLF/FATAH
Ismail both politically and militarily.
* Castro began supporting and training of M19, a Colombian
guerrilla group that captured the Dominican Embassy and the Justice building
in Bogota and assassinated several prominent Colombian judges.
* In 1970 a "Mini Manual for Revolutionaries" was published in
the official LASO publication Tricontinental, written by Brazilian urban
terrorist leader Carlos Marighella. The mini manual gives precise
instruction in terror tactics, kidnappings, etc. The short book was
translated into numerous languages and distributed worldwide by Cuba.
* Cuba commenced political and military cooperation with
Somalia's Siad Barre (1969).
* Economic and political cooperation began with Libya in 1974.
* In 1974 the National Liberation Directorate (DLN) was
reorganized into the America Department (DA) under the Communist Party of
Cuba Central Committee. The DA centralized control over Cuban activities for
supporting national liberation movements. The DA was responsible for
planning and coordinating Cuba's secret guerrilla and terrorist training
camps, networks for the covert movement of personnel and material from Cuba,
and a propaganda apparatus. DA agents also operated in Europe and other
regions. Trusted Castro ally Manuel Pi±eiro, " Barbaroja" was placed in
charge.
* Cuba provided training and support to the Tupamaros, a
terrorist group operating in Uruguay.
* Cuba's America Department (DA) set up a network for the
funneling of weapons and supplies to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
* In 1979 second in command in Cuba's America Department (DA)
Armando Ulises Estrada, helped unify Sandinista factions fighting Somoza.
* Closer connections with FATAH-PLO and other Palestinian
organizations were reinforced, including training of Latin American
guerrillas in Lebanon; Cuba's military support included counter-intelligence
and intelligence training.
* Arafat visited Cuba in 1974.
* Cuba provided military support and personnel to Syria during
the Yom Kippur War (1973-1975).
* Black Panther Party members from the U.S. were trained in
Canada by Cuban personnel. Black Panther leaders and other U.S. blacks also
received weapons and explosives training in Havana.
* Cuba joined with Algeria and Libya on a diplomatic/political
offensive in support of Frente POLISARIO (People's Front for the Liberation
of Western Sahara and R o del Oro); later on provided military cooperation,
and medical services.
1976-1982
* The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimated that
there were 300 Palestinians training in Cuban camps.
* Cuba supported the so-called "Steadfastness Front" against
the U.S. backed Camp David accord.
* Illich Rßmirez Sßnchez, known as "Carlos, the Jackal",
responsible for numerous terrorist acts in Europe, trained in Cuba. He
attended the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Havana and later trained in
urban guerrilla tactics, automatic weapons, explosives and sabotage in Cuba.
* Abu Iyad, a close aid to Yasser Arafat, stated in 1978 that
hundreds of Palestinian had been sent to Cuban terrorist camps.
* Additional military and political support provided to the
Palestinian cause; Arafat attended the Sixth Non-Aligned Conference in
Havana (1979).
* During Havana visit, Arafat signed agreement for military
cooperation and arms supply.
* Significant hard currency loans (tens of million) were
facilitated by Arafat-PLO to the Cuban government under very soft terms;
Cuba granted diplomatic and political support to Arafat during the 1982
Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
* The Aden (South Yemen) regime supported the Ethiopian
radical officers commanded by Mengistu Haile Mariam, sending Yemeni military
units in support of the latter against Somali aggression, and asking the
Cubans to do the same. Cuba joined in, first with a group of officers headed
by General Arnaldo Ochoa, a move that was followed later on by the
deployment of large Cuban forces against the Somali invasion. Also as part
of the alliance with the Aden regime, Cuba granted some small-scale support
to the Dhofaris in their armed struggle against the monarchy in Oman.
* The Cuban trained Congolese National Liberation Front
invaded Shala, Zaire.
* As part of Cuba's alliance with Mengistu Haile Mariam's
regime in Ethiopia, the Cuban leadership decided to engage in active
political and military support of the Liberation Movement of Southern Sudan
headed by John Garang against the Arab-Muslim regime in Khartoum.
* Cuba developed closer ties with and sent military advisors
to Iraq.
* Cuba's America Department (DA) operated a weapons pipeline
to the Farabundo Mart National Front (FMLN) a terrorist group attempting to
gain power in El Salvador.
* Cuba cooperated with Libya in the political founding of the
World MATHABA in Tripoli, to provide political support and coordinate
revolutionary violence throughout the world. Cuba supported Libya's stand on
Chad and the FRENTE POLISARIO.
* Cuban trained terrorists members of the Guatemalan EGP
kidnapped a businessman in Guatemala. Several were arrested in Mexico when
attempting to collect ransom.
* Despite its close links with Baghdad, Cuba recognized and
praised the Iranian Revolution. Once Iraq attacked Iran, Castro withdrew his
military advisors from Baghdad and adopted a position of official
impartiality, though more sympathetic to Baghdad, due to his past relations.
1983-1990
* Argentine born Cuban intelligence agent Jorge Massetti
helped funnel Cuban funds to finance Puerto Rican terrorists belonging to
the Machetero group. The Macheteros highjacked a Wells Fargo truck in
Connecticut in September 1983 and stole $7.2 million.
* Cuba's America Department (DA) provided, thru Jorge
Massetti, weapons and several thousand dollars to the Chilean MIR.
* Libyan support to Latin American revolutionary movements,
especially in Central America and the whole of the World MATHABA project,
declined after the U.S.bombing of Tripoli in 1986.
* Cuban agents in Mexico engaged in bank robberies to finance
several terrorist groups from Latin America operating out of Mexico.
* The Palestinian Intifada increased Cuba's support for Arafat
and the PLO, both diplomatic and military.
* Several dozen Mexicans received training in terrorism and
guerrilla warfare in Sierra del Rosario, Pinar del Rio Province and in
Guanabo, in eastern Cuba.
* After the negotiations leading to the establishment of the
Palestinian National Authority, Cuban-Palestinian military cooperation was
enhanced, including the areas of counter-intelligence and intelligence.
* In early 1989, Cuban General Patricio de la Guardia directed
a plot in Havana and charged Jorge Massetti with blowing up the U.S.
transmission balloon of TV Mart located in the Florida Keys.
* Cuba condemned Iraq for its invasion and annexation of
Kuwait, supporting the latter's sovereignty; it also condemned U.S. military
operations in the Gulf and abstained at the U.N. from supporting the bulk of
the sanctions imposed on Baghdad. A Cuban military delegation was sent to
Iraq to learn and share what was considered vital information and
experiences from U.S. combat operations in Kuwait and Iraq.
* Cuba provided advanced weapons and demolition training to
the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in Per·. The Tupac Amaru
attacked the U.S. Embassy in 1984; bombed the Texaco offices in 1985 and
attacked the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in 1985 all in Lima, Per·.
1991-2001
* ETA, a Spanish terrorist organization seeking a separate
Basque homeland, established the Cuartel General (General Headquarters) in
Havana.
* A high-level PLO military delegation including the head of
Intelligence paid a visit to Cuba.
* On February 24, 1996, Cuban Air Force Migs shot down, in
international waters, two small unarmed civilian planes belonging to
Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami based group. All occupants were killed,
including three American citizens.
* The election of Abdelaziz Bouteflika (April 1999) as
President of Algeria, opened new opportunities for Cuba, given Bouteflika's
close relationship with the Cuban government for more than three decades.
* PLO leaders continue to have close relations with the Cuban
leadership, having access to specialized military and intelligence training,
either in Cuba or Palestinian territory, and in the sharing of intelligence.
* A spokesman for the Basque government in Spain met in Havana
with two high level ETA terrorist taking refuge in Cuba, Jos Angel Urtiaga
Martinez and Jes·s Lucio Abrisqueta Corte.
* Cuba continued to provide safe haven to several terrorists
fugitives from the U.S. They include: Black Liberation Army leader Joanne
Chesimard aka Assata Shakur, one of New Jersey's most wanted fugitives for
killing a New Jersey State trooper in 1973 and Charlie Hill a member of the
Republic of New Afrika Movement wanted for the hijacking of TWA 727 and the
murder of a New Mexico State trooper
* A number of Basque ETA terrorists who gained sanctuary in
Cuba some years ago continued to live on the island, as did several Puerto
Ricans members of the Machetero Group.
* Castro refused to join the other Ibero-American heads of
state in condemning ETA terrorism at the 2000 Ibero-American Summit in
Panamß and slammed Mexico for its support of the Summit's statement against
terrorism.
* Castro continues to maintain ties to several state sponsors
of terrorism in Latin America. Colombia's two largest terrorist
organizations, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the
National Liberation Army (ELN), both maintain a permanent presence on the
island.
* Colombian officials arrested IRA members Niall Connelly,
Martin McCauley and James Monaghan and accused then of training the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Connelly had been living in
Cuba as the representative of the IRA for Latin America.
* Former Defense Department counter-terrorism expert John
More told UPI that Cubans, militant Palestinians, Hezbollah and even
advisors from the leftist government of Venezuela are all active in
Colombia.
* During the trial of several Cuban spies in Miami, one of the
accused Alejandro Alonso revealed on December 30, 2000 that he was
instructed from Havana to locate areas in South Florida "where we can move
persons as well as things, including arms and explosives."
* Speaking at Tehran University in Iran on May 10, 2001 Fidel
Castro vowed that "the imperialist king will finally fall".
BPP - Black Panther Party - Founded in the United States in 1966 by Huey P.
Newton and Bobby Seale. It adopted Marxist-Leninist principles along with
urban guerrilla warfare, and a structure similar to the American Communist
party.
DGI - Direct rio General de Inteligencia - The Cuban Department in charge of
collecting intelligence and carrying out covert operations outside Cuba.
DA - America Department - Centralized control over Cuban activities for
supporting national liberation movements, responsible for planning and
coordinating Cuba's secret guerrilla and terrorist camps, and propaganda
apparatus.
DLN - National Liberation Directorate - Organization created in Cuba to
support revolutionary groups throughout the world. Responsible for planning
and coordinating Cuba's terrorist training camps in the island, covert
movement of personnel and military supplies from Cuba, and propaganda
apparatus.
EGP - Ejercito Guerrillero de los Pobres - A political-military
Marxist-Leninist organization that followed Cuba and Vietnam as
revolutionary models. This Guatemalan insurgent organization was trained in
Cuba and was very active during the 1970s, seeking to depose the political
and military structure of the country.
ELF - Eritrean Liberation Front - The most influential Eritrean organization
fighting for secession from Ethiopia in the 1960s, actively supported by the
Cuban and Syrian regime since 1965. Various internal divisions developed
later on until the late 1970s, when a new front was built based on very
different domestic and external alliances and, eventually led the Eritreans
to victory. Cuba's support to Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime in 1978 meant
the cessation of previous Cuban backing to the Eritrean cause.
ELN - National Liberation Army - Organized by the Castro regime, this
Colombian Marxist insurgent group was founded in 1965. Its main terrorist
activities includes kidnappings and extortion targeting foreign employees of
large corporations.
ETA - Basque Separatist Movement - This organization was founded by
militants and leftist students from the University of Madrid in 1962. They
formed guerilla units that commit violent terrorist acts claiming that they
are fighting for freedom of the Basque Region, in Spain. This group has
close relations with the IRA. The two groups have offices in Havana and
their members have found safe haven in Cuba.
FALN - Fuerzas Armadas de Liberaci n Nacional - A Venezuelan guerrilla
organization trained by Cuba in violence and terrorism.
FARC - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - Established in 1964, the
FARC is the oldest and best-equipped Marxist insurgency in Colombia. It is a
well-organized terrorist group that controls several rural and urban areas.
It has received financial and military aid from Cuba and many of its members
were trained in Havana.
FATAH - Palestine National Liberation Movement - Founded in 1959 by younger
generations of Palestinians that had experienced the defeats of 1948 and
1956. The FATAH are strongly committed to a radical nationalist platform to
fight for Palestine and against Arab intervention and manipulations of the
Palestinian problem. Mostly an underground organization until the June War
in 1967 when it transformed itself into the most powerful and influential
party inside Palestinian and Arab politics.
FLN - Front de Lib ration National - The political and military organization
that led the war of national liberation against French colonial rule between
1954 and 1962. Ruling political party until the 1980s in Algeria.
FMLN - Farabundo Mart National Front - Formed in 1970, the FMLN is a
terrorist Marxist-Leninist organization intent on establishing a communist
revolutionary regime in El Salvador. The FMLN was extremely active in its
terrorist campaign, receiving assistance from Nicaragua and Cuba.
FSLN - Frente Sandinista de Liberaci n Nacional - This organization was
founded in Havana in 1961 when Carlos Fonseca-Amador's Nicaraguan Patriotic
Youth organization merged with Tomas Borge's Cuban-supported insurgent
group. The group adopted Marxist-Leninist ideology and gained support from
the Castro government, employing low-level guerrilla warfare and urban
terrorism tactics to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship.
IRA - Irish Republican Army - The IRA is the most dangerous terrorist
organization of Northern Ireland dating back to the early 1920s. Although,
it wasn't until the 1970's when the IRA began terrorist actions and
resurrected the historical conflicts. The IRA targets political
transformation for United Ireland by eliminating Britain from Northern
Ireland and replacing the government of Northern Ireland with a socialist
government. Its Latin American headquarters are in Havana.
LASO - Latin American Solidarity Organization - A Cuban controlled
organization founded during the 1966 Tri-Continental Conference in Havana to
"coordinate and foment the fight against North American imperialism."
M-19 - Movimiento 19 de Abril - A Castro supported group formed in 1974 to
disrupt Colombia's government through acts of terrorism and violence. The
M-19 was very active throughout the 1980s receiving assistance and training
from the Montoneros and Tupamaros groups and the Cuban government, causing
Colombia to temporarily sever diplomatic relations with Cuba.
M-6-14 - Agrupaci n Politica Catorce de Junio - Dominican guerrilla
organization trained in Cuba.
MACHETEROS - This terrorist organization is composed of four Puerto Rican
groups: 1) the Macheteros, 2) the Ejercito Popular Bor cua (EPB), 3) the
Movimiento Popular Revolucionario, and 4) the Partido Revolucionario de
Trabajadores Puertorrique±os. Most of the Macheteros have been trained in
Cuba, were they have established relations with other terrorist groups. They
are responsible for several terrorist acts within the United States and
throughout Puerto Rico.
MIR - Movimiento de la Izquierda Revolucionaria - A Chilean insurgent
organization founded in 1965 and supported by Castro. The MIR was very
active in the mid-1970s when they promoted violence and occupied several
rural areas in Chile. The group encountered several set backs during the
1980s that essentially ended their activity.
MONTONEROS - An Argentinean guerilla organization that was formed in 1968 as
a Peronist urban anti-government group. It adopted a Marxist ideology in the
mid-1970s after it united with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Argentina. In 1977, many of its members were exiled and its numbers reduced
to less than 300.
MRTA - Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement - Marxist-Leninist revolutionary
organization formed in 1983 and supported by the Castro regime. The MRTA's
intent was to establish a Marxist regime in Peru through terrorism, although
Peru's counter terrorism program diminished the groups' ability to
effectively carry out terrorist attacks.
NLF - National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen - Created in 1962 in
the course of the revolution in North Yemen against the monarchy and
supported by Nasser, the NLF is another important and successful branch of
the Arab Nationalist Movement. Since 1965 it has had very close relations
with Cuba. In 1966-1967, it broke with Nasser and finally forced the British
to negotiate and evacuate Aden.
OSPAAL - Organization for the Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and
Latin America - Founded in 1966 in Cuba at the Tri-Continental Conference,
this organization aims to support the struggle of the people of Africa, Asia
and Latin America against imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism.
PLO - Palestine Liberation Organization - This organization was founded in
Cairo in 1964 under the auspices of Egypt (then known as the United Arab
Republic) to serve Nasser's manipulations of the Palestinian cause. The
group was composed mostly of conservative Palestinian intellectuals and
bureaucrats serving Arab governments. The PLO was an instrument of Nasser's
foreign policy until the June War of 1967, when the old PLO leadership
collapsed to be replaced by FATEH's leadership headed by Arafat.
POLISARIO - People's Front for the Liberation of Western Sahara and R o del
Oro - The Frente POLISARIO was inspired by the ANM tradition and the
Algerian FLN and was created to fight against the
Spanish-Morrocan-Mauritinian arrangements to split the former colony of
Sagu a el Hamra/R o del Oro (known as Western Sahara) between the two
African states. This group enjoyed active support from Algeria and Libya and
Cuba.
POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINES - The most important branch
of the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), created in the 1950s as radical
followers of Nasser. After the June War of 1967, the group disassociated
itself from Nasser and focused on building a more radical alternative within
the Palestinians under the name of Popular Front. The group has strong
alliances within Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, and the Gulf, and was heavily
engaged in terrorist activities during the 1970s.
TRICONTINENTAL - Cuban publication disseminated by the Organization for the
Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL) in four
languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian / promoting the Castro line
of armed struggle.
TUPAMAROS or MNL - Movimiento Nacional de Liberaci n Tupamaros - This
Uruguay insurgent group was organized in the early 1960s by law student Raul
Sendic. The Tupamaros were one of the first terrorist groups to use
guerrilla warfare in urban areas and established independent terrorist cells
throughout the country.
WORLD MATHABA - A Libyan project from the late 1970s to promote political,
financial, and military support for revolutionary movements throughout the
world. Ghaddafi called on other "revolutionary governments" to support this
project, which Cuba did. MATHABA was essentially a tool in the hands of the
Libyans to project their individual goals and agenda. Financial and military
assistance was never a collective decision, but responded for the most part
to bilateral arrangements between Ghaddafi's regime and individual
organizations, some of which resorted, at different stages, to terrorist
methods like the IRA and ETA. Insurgencies in Central America, like the
Sandinistas and others, were privileged beneficiaries along with the African
National Congress, Frente POLISARIO, and others.
posted on January 27, 2004 09:22:39 PM new
Fugitives In Cuba Wanted by the FBI
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Not on list below: William Morales (Puerto Rican terrorist bomber of the FALN)]
This is a list of fugitives that the FBI is sure that are hiding in Cuba. Among them is Robert Vesco, financialist, North American accused of multi-millionaire fraud. Ralph Goodwin, Accused of possession of explosives, and Brian Wilson, a Cuban accused of assassination. The others are charged for piracy highjacking.
Michael Finney(California) [Republic of New Africa, killed a cop in New Mexico]
Ralph Goodwin (Illinois)
Charlie Hill (Maryland) [Republic of New Africa, killed a cop in New Mexico]
James Patterson (Michigan)
William Palm (Missouri)
Theressa Grosso (California)
Clinton Smith (Cuba)
Richard Linares (Cuba)
John Marques (Louisiana)
William Brent (Cuba)
Oreste Bello (Cuba)
Cosme Iglesia (Cuba)
Barbara Alvarez (Cuba)
Ofelia Bernardo (Cuba)
Jose Bernardo Tunon (Cuba)
Ernest Ferrero (Cuba)
Fidel Rego Otano (Cuba)
Vincente Rego Otano (Cuba)
Nacasio Delgado (Cuba)
Miguel Sanchez (Cuba)
Ricardo Coro (Cuba)
Rosalino Rodriguez Cabria (Cuba)
George Wright Virginia
Jose Montero (Cuba)
Hector Ochoa (Cuba)
William Potts (unknown)
Mario Fonseca (Cuba)
Divaldo Rojas Reyes (Cuba)
Wilfredo Oquendo (Cuba)
Eduardo Salgado (Cuba)
Roberto Salgado (Cuba)
Carlos Arias Valdez (Cuba)
Marino Samon (Cuba)
Rolando Cadenas (Cuba)
Silvio Cabrera (Cuba)
Crecencio Zamora (Cuba)
Sergio Rojas (Cuba)
Juan Garcia (Cuba)
Robert Gracial (Cuba)
Ciro Granda (Cuba)
Santiago Guerra Valdez (Cuba)
Patrick Latortue (unknown)
Ramon Delgado (Cuba)
Hector Gonzalez (Cuba)
Victor Gerena (New York) [ Wanted Poster On FBI's Ten Most Wanted list]
Daniel Abad (Cuba)
Brian Wilson (Cuba)
Joaquin Babin Estrada (Cuba)
Joanne Chesimard (Cuba-United States) [Black Liberation Army, killed a cop in N.J.]
Miguel Aguiar (Cuba)
Robert Vesco (Michigan)
Luis Soltren (Puerto Rico)
Catherine Kerkow (Oregon)
Antajares Payano (Dominican Republic)
Ishmael Ali (Virgin Islands) [convicted of multiple murders in the Virgin Islands]
Cheri Dalton (New York)
Miguel Toledo (Cuba)
Nelson Molina (Cuba)
Rafaele Minichiello (Italy)
Felix Coolin (Dominican Republic)
Manuel Vargas Agueros (Cuba)
Armando Diaz La Rossa (Cuba)
Esmeraldo Ramirez Castaneda (Cuba)
Jose Garcia Sanchez (Cuba)
Pedro De Quesada (Cuba)
Rigoberto Gonzalez Sanchez (Cuba)
Ramon Martin (Cuba)
Jesus Armenteros (Cuba)
Gilberto Carrazana Y Gonzalez (unknown)
Donald Rider (North Dakota)
Francis Teroll (New York)
1. Revolutionary forces seize power and call a general strike to continue in effect until Dr. Manuel Urrutia is nominated President of the Republic.
2. Entrance of Fidel Castro in Havana
3. Prominent figures of the new government:
Dr. Manuel Urrutia - President
Dr. Fidel Castro - Head of the Army
Dr. Jose Miro Cardona - Prime Minister
Dr. Felipe Pazos - Head of the National Bank
Rufo Lopez Fresquet - Minister of Finance
Manolo Ray - Minister of Public Works
Raul Castro - Head in Santiago de Cuba
Ernesto "Che" Guevara - Head of Cabana Fortress
Camilo Cienfuegos - Head of Camp Colombia
4. Starting of trials and executions of Batista followers all over the Island.
February
1. Fidel Castro becomes Prime Minister. Raul Castro becomes head of the army.
2. First time Fidel uses the words "Monopoly" and "Trusts" referring to the Industry during his speech in the Shell Refinery calling for termination of the boycott against Shell.
March
1. Law reducing all house rentals from 30% to 50%.
2. First big public rally to defend the executions. First open attack against monopolies, etc., mainly against CCE (Electric Company) and CTC (Telephone Company).
3. Break in diplomatic relations with Dominican Republic.
4. Establishment of severe travel restrictions outside Cuba.
April
1. Fidel Castro's trip to the United States and South America.
2. Rumors of conflict between Raul Castro and Camilo Cienfuegos begin to circulate due to opposition of Cienfuegos to communist ideology.
May
1. Agrarian Reform Law is signed in the Sierra Maestra.
2. Donations for the Agrarian Reform reached peak; the Company contributed, together with employees, 20+ tractors.
3. On May 1, during the big rally, ex-president Figueres of Costa Rica who was guest of honor, was verbally abused by David Salvador and Fidel Castro.
4. CTC (Cuban Telephone Company) was intervened and tariff reduced.
June
1. Diaz Lanz, head of the Air Force, flees Cuba.
July
1. President Urrutia is ousted because he shows concern over communist influence in the government.
2. The new Tax Reform Law is published.
3. Big rally called for 1 million countrymen in Havana.Company contributed room and board for 75.
August
1. A conspiracy allegedly supported by the Government of the Dominican Republic was uncovered through the infiltration of pro-Castro elements such as William Morgan and R. Gutierrez Menoyo. A plane loaded with men and arms captured near Trinidad.
October
1. Coordination of tariffs for all freight paid.
2. Mining law establishing control of all exploration activities.
November
1. Felipe Pazos resigns from National Bank. Ernesto "Che" Guevara replaces Pazos.
2. First Catholic Congress
3. ASTA Convention (American Society of Travel Agents).
4. Hubert Matos imprisoned after resigning as head of Camaguey Province due to his concern about communist influence in all government agencies.
December
1. Company starts labor agreement negotiations with our union.
2. Camilo Cienfuegos reportedly anti-communist disappears during a flight from Camaguey where he was checking details on the Hubert Matos resignation.
1960
January
1. All the match industries in Cuba are confiscated.
2. All the members of the old army remaining in their jobs are retired (about 1200).
3. The newspaper "Advance" is confiscated.
4. The Spanish Ambassador, Juan Pablo Lojendio, interrupted abruptly a TV appearance of Fidel Castro protesting insults to Spain. He is immediately ordered to leave the country in 48 hours.
February
1. The Social Security bank (Bansoscu) is created and 5% tax is imposed on all salaries paid and received.
2. A 2% tax to the employees plus 2% tax to employers imposed on all salaries to create a fund for theindustrialization of the country.
3. Visit of USSR Premier Mikoyan and opening of the USSR Industrial Fair.
4. Signing of trade agreement with Russia, also military and cultural agreement.
March
1. The SS "La Coubre" loaded with Belgian ammunition explodes in Havana Harbor. Fidel charges U.S. with sabotage and responsibility for explosion.
2. The newspaper "El Mundo" is confiscated.
3. A decree was issued ordering all school teachers in Cuba to receive a course in "Revolutionary Ideology."
April
1. Trade Agreement is signed with Poland.
2. Congress of Communist Youth of America held in Havana; all expenses of 900 participants paid for by Cuban government.
3. All workers obliged to register in the Labor Census in the Ministry of Labor.
4. Meetings in all 6 Provinces to commemorate birthday of Lenin.
5. Havana Biltmore Yacht Club intervened.
May
1. First of May celebrated with big rally attended by delegates from USSR, Czechoslovakia, Red China, Poland, and Hungary. No labor demands permitted but banners displaying socialistic and anti-US propaganda shown.
2. Manuel Fortuny communist leader of Guatemala and Jacques Mornard, Trotsky's murdered arrive in Havana to live there.
3. Diplomatic Relations with USSR are established.
4. Last two free newspapers "Diario de la Marina" and "Prensa Libre" are confiscated.
June
1. Trade Agreement is signed with Czechoslovakia.
2. Export-Import Bank is created as only agency authorized to make purchases outside Cuba.
posted on January 27, 2004 10:37:15 PM new
How about a pleasant evening dining with the man who masterminded the ‘Secret bombing’ murder of an estimated 600,000 peasants in Cambodia.
posted on January 28, 2004 01:45:30 AM newCastro has fascinated Hollywood stars.Jack Nicholson called him "a genius," Oliver Stone said he was "one of the Earth's wisest people" and Steven Spielberg said he spent "the eight most important hours of his life" with the Cuban leader.
posted on January 30, 2004 04:55:18 PM newCastro Accuses Bush of Plotting With Cuban American Exiles to Kill Him
By Andrea Rodriguez Associated Press Writer
Published: Jan 30, 2004
HAVANA (AP) - Fidel Castro accused President Bush on Friday of plotting with Miami exiles to kill him, and said he would die fighting if the United States ever invaded to oust him.
"I don't care how I die," Castro said at the end of a 5 1/2-hour speech that began Thursday night and continued into early Friday. "But rest assured, if they invade us, I'll die in combat."
The Cuban president didn't back up his accusations with details. He spoke at the close of a conference bringing together activists across the region who oppose the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Castro has insisted over the past year that hardline Cuban exiles in Miami have been pressuring the Bush administration to invade the island - a charge U.S. officials deny.
Castro also has increasingly referred to his own mortality in recent years, promising to remain in power until his last breath.
"We know that Mr. Bush has committed himself to the mafia ... to assassinate me," the Cuban president said, using the term commonly employed here to describe anti-Castro Cuban Americans. "I said it once before and today I'll say it clearer: I accuse him!"
Castro has accused past U.S. administrations of seeking to assassinate him, and during his early years in power there were numerous documented cases of U.S.-sponsored attempts on his life.
The assassination of foreign leaders as U.S. policy was later banned in 1976 by an executive order signed by then-President Gerald Ford and reinforced by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Castro also criticized the Bush administration's Commission for a Free Cuba - a panel set up in October and headed by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
When the United States announced creation of the commission, Powell suggested that the goal is not to ease Castro out but to plan a strategy for Cuba once the 77-year-old leader is no longer in power.
Earlier in his speech, Castro called on the more than 1,000 activists from across the Americas gathered here to work against the U.S.-backed free trade pact, which he said will only further impoverish their nations.
The Bush administration has progressively hardened its policies toward the island. Cuban authorities charge the strategy is aimed at wooing voters in Florida, home to most of the Cuban-American exiles living in the United States.
For more than four decades, the two countries have been without diplomatic ties and a U.S. trade embargo against the island makes most trade between the nations impossible, except for sales of farm products.
posted on January 30, 2004 07:27:30 PM new
Castro: 'I Will Die Fighting' if U.S. Invades Cuba
Fri January 30, 2004 04:47 PM ET
(Page 1 of 2)
By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro vowed on Friday to die fighting "with a gun in my hand" if the United States invaded Cuba to overthrow his communist government.
"I don't care how I die, but for sure, if they invade us, I will die fighting," the 77-year-old leader said at a meeting of anti-free trade activists from across the hemisphere.
Castro, the target of countless CIA assassination attempts in the 1960s, called on the Bush administration to clarify to the world its policy was on assassinating foreign leaders.
In Miami, a senior U.S. government official dismissed Castro's comments as absurd.
"It's an absurd declaration, as usual. According to Fidel Castro, he's going to die fighting, probably he's going to die talking," said Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. Noriega was speaking to journalists while attending a conference on Latin America.
Earlier this month, Bush Administration officials accused Cuba of joining forces with Venezuela's leftist government to destabilize democratic governments in Latin America.
President Bush last year named a commission to speed up a post-Castro transition to democratic rule in Cuba, aggravating fears in Havana that Cuba could be the next on Bush's list for a regime change after Iraq.
"We don't want a conflict, but we will not give an inch on our principles," Castro said in a rambling five-and-a-half-hour speech.
Castro said Cuba was prepared to resist invasion, with "hundreds of thousands" of soldiers ready to defend the island with guerrilla tactics he had used in the Sierra Maestra mountains to defeat a dictator's army and seize power in 1959.
He said instructions have been given in the case he were to die in a surgical strike.
"This nation will never surrender. ... We have taken all the measures. Everyone knows what to do," Castro said. Continued ...
authorities were preparing the population for a possible invasion with training drills.
A U.S. presidential directive from the 1970s bans the assassination of foreign leaders, but the Bush Administration appeared to waive the ban when it made clear that Iraq's Saddam Hussein was to be considered a target before last year's invasion.
Castro spoke to more than 1,000 activists, from Andean Indians and landless Brazilians to Canadian postal workers, who met in Havana to plan protests against the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas
