ABC News: Raul Castro: Cocaine Connection?

[DeepModem Mom]

Raul Castro: Cocaine Connection?
August 14, 2006
Brian Ross and Vic Walter Report


(ABC)

Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Raul Castro as the head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy in 1993, but the Clinton Administration Justice Department overruled them, current and former Justice Department officials tell ABC News.

The officials say Castro, as Cuban Defense Minister, permitted Colombian drug lords to pay for the use of Cuban waters and airstrips as staging grounds for smuggling runs into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.

"It was a major investigation involving numerous witnesses that was killed at the highest levels in Washington," said a former Justice Department official with direct knowledge of the case.

"There were numerous national security and intelligence issues that would have made the case difficult," said Tom Cash, the former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Miami.

Convicted Colombian drug boss Carlos Lehder of the Medellin cartel testified in a 1991 federal trial that he met twice in Havana with Raul Castro to arrange safe passage for cocaine flights over Cuban airspace....

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/08/raul_castro_coc.html

[wtmusic]

1. I heard he wants to develop nukes too

:scared:

[ShaneGR]

3. Cuban nukes 90 miles away from Florida...

That would make the current Iran situation look like Disney World.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. And tried to buy yellow cake, too!

That's right, bitches! YELLOW CAKE!

[0007]

26. Too fucking funny!!

[mom cat]

49. Oh my God? ... Not from that same country

in AFRICA! :scared: :nuke: :scared:








:sarcasm:

[LeighAnn]

16. I heard he's got chemical weapons and WMDs

And didn't he murder a hundred thousand Kurds or whatever with the chemical weapons we sold him?

[wtmusic]

18. I heard you were right!

And I hear we're gonna have to invade! Ouch! :scared:

[flyarm]

2. * crime family and cocaine connections?

little lord pissy pants with face in the white stuff..you bet!!

pot call kettle black....

fly

[acmavm]

5. Hell, didn't blivet once give an interview where when asked

what he did on the weekends during his TANG days he replied that he just took the jet and went flying around the country picking up plants? I know I read that here because some very astute people were wondering since when could you borrow and TANG aircraft on weekends and what the hell kind of plants were they picking up. Does anyone remember this doozy?

I doubt that blivet was picking up peonies if that story was true. But he's such a damn liar (ain't they all??) that who knows if this crap was true or something he made up to make himself look like the big tough fighter pilot he thinks he is.

[leesa]

6. Would those be Poppy's drug pals? Were they Poppy Bush's planes?

They will be spewing this crap nonstop until the US is able to take over Cuba to use it for their own drug and gun smuggling haven and gambling capitol. Just like the good old days.

[zreosumgame]

25. like Manuel Noriega?

one thing people really should have learned by now, you can't trust ANY of that BFEE...

[Say_What]

7. LOL not this old bullshit again... THEY'RE PISSED 'CUZ FIDEL IS ALIVE

and that there was a calm transition of power in Cuba. The POS Uncle Sam is seething as usual.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

8. Calm Transition of Power?

Unique way of saying it.

[Sadie5]

12. A perfect excuse

To go into Cuba and free them from Castro. The only trouble is that they don't like Bush's brand of freedom. The dictator fails.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

15. Not saying that

Just saying that we complain about election shenanigans around here, but Cuba is given a pass b/c Castro is so anti- *.

What's good for one is good for the other.

I don't see Fidel or Raul as having been freely elected. Will there be elections after Fidel passes?
Was power just handed over to Raul because he has the same last name and they want to keep the Castro name to piss off *?

[w4rma]

21. Cuba is defended because given the chance Bush will turn it into another

Iraq.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

23. Two different things

Debating how the US handles Cuba (as if it should) is different from saying that Fidel is a lovey-dovey cuddly bear.

That is in the same veign as "well since you don't support the US invasion of Iraq, then you think that Saddam should be back in power and that the rape rooms were okay."

You are in essence saying "since you think Castro is doing things wrong, then you think the US should invade and take over."

Not at all. What I am saying is that since the populace of this site is in the habit of supporting free-open elections and Human Rights in general, then why not apply it to the Castro regime as well.

Not all things anti-* are good.

Why does Cuba get a pass?

[Say_What]

30. You missed the point. The key word here is CUBA not Castro

11 million Cubans don't want another Platt Amendment. They decided they didn't want US style *democracy* in 1959. If they wanted Fidel gone, he'd have been gone long ago. If you knew anything about their history you would know that.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

32. How exactly would he have been deposed?

When he jails dissidents and outlaws speech that is "anti-revolutionary" according to Human Rights Watch.

No organization organized to protest that is not government sanctioned is allowed to exists. No Labor Unions outside the governments are allowed to exist, no non-governmetn owned media outlets are allowed to exist.

What political candidate have they chosen from? Hell, even Saddam held sham elections for President of Iraq.

Again, you are tieing what I am saying with wanting US intervention. Where did I say that? What have I said that let's you make that connection? You may admonish me to read my history, but I admonish you to simply read my post.

Examples that fly around here about jailing of terror suspects without cause in Guantanamo and election rigging have been happening in Cuba for years before this.

Why does Cuba not get criticized for these practices? Why apply the rules to one and not another? Answer that simple question.

I am speaking striclty in the vacuum of Cuba here. I don't care about arguments like well the US does this and that so why should we criticize Cuba. Well, if any place criticizes both sides when they do wrong, it should be here. One should not get a pass b/c he is anti-*

[Say_What]

35. Like I said, do a little reading. It's in their history...

duh.

http://historyofcuba.com/cuba.htm

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

37. So violent overthrow is the only way?

The powerful get to keep power if they win against the uprising?

That is what you are saying to me?

[Say_What]

40. After 400 years of Spanish slave owners and 50 years of US-dictators

the only way left was violent overthrow.

Man, you are too naive for words.


American Soldiers in Cuba

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

43. Who's Naive

I am talking about the situation NOW. Not 50 years ago.

Are you saying that violent overthrow is the answer now, that they should not be allowed to freely elect their leaders? In other words, the people are too stupid to make their choices in a peaceful way, they need to kill each other to impose the more militarily powerful will? That it is okay to just pass the mantle from crony to crony until the people revolt?

[Say_What]

31. When you know nothing about Cuba, a little reseach goes a long way...

According to the Cuban Constitution, the Vice President becomes President should the President of Cuba dies or become unable to govern. The Vice President of Cuba is Raul.

Here's an OP/ED piece by Cuba expert Wayne Smith the most veteran U.S. observer of U.S.-Cuban relations, among the posts he's held: Cuba analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1957-58), Third Secretary of Political Affairs in the American Embassy in Havana (1958-61), Cuban Desk Officer (1964-66), Director of Cuban Affairs in the Department of State (1977-79), and Chief of the U.S. Interests Section Havana, 1979-82.

Avail yourself of some FACTUAL information rather than the decades old propaganda spoon fed to 'muriKans.
<clips>

Bush's New Cuba Plan

In May of 2004, the Bush Administration's Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba issued an almost 500-page report that seemed to conclude the Castro government was virtually at the point of collapse. Just a few more nudges--a few more Radio Marti broadcasts, denials of a few more travel licenses, and support to a few more dissidents--and it would all be over. The United States, the report seemed to suggest, would then come in and show the Cubans how to operate their schools properly, make their trains run on time, and grow their crops more efficiently. It was envisaged as such a U.S.-run operation that in July of 2005, a U.S. transition coordinator was appointed. One skeptical observer noted at the time that in the case of Iraq, the Bush Administration had at least waited until it invaded and occupied the country before appointing a transition coordinator. Did his appointment in this case mean the U.S. intended to invade Cuba as well? And if not, what was the U.S. transition coordinator supposed to do from his office in the State Department building? Even today, that remains unclear.

Perhaps OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza's reaction to the idea of a U.S. transition coordinator for Cuba summed it up best. "But there is no transition," he said, "and it isn't your country."

Indeed, the transition plan put forward in 2004 had such a "made-in-the-USA" tone to it that it backfired in Cuba. Even Cubans who had their disagreements with the Castro government did not want to be told by the United States how they should run their country. Leading dissidents described the new approach as counterproductive. Elizardo Sanchez of the Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, for example, noted that the U.S. policy announced in 2004, "has had an effect exactly the opposite of the one you should want."

Cuba's Catholic Bishops also disagreed with the U.S. approach, saying its measures "threaten both the present and the future of our nation."

Nor did many Cubans agree with the idea that they should give up free health care and education, and various other services provided by the government.

http://www.counterpunch.org/smith07112006.html

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

33. Was Raul elected or appointed?

For that matter, when has Castro faced an opponent he didn't jail in an election?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

34. Double Post

Sorry

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

38. Disingenuous Argument

Nowhere did I say to apply any US influence on Cuba. Instead of posting perhaps you should read other posts first.

I said, when has Castro ever allowed his people to have a choice?

And as for the free health care and access to all institutions, even HRW (which I would say is the last organization to feed anyone RW propaganda) documents that the great Cuban unwashed are not allowed in the areas, resorts, and health clinics reserved for the foreign tourists (read people with MONEY).

[Say_What]

41. Back up the bullshit with links, please...

On May 20, 1902, crowds gather in Havana to watch the Cuban flag raised over Morro Castle.


In 1908, U.S. occupation troops camp in front of the Presidential Palace in Havana. The U.S. flag is displayed.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

44. Links? No Problem

Again, I am not talking about 100 years ago. Why do you keep trying to put that Red Herring in the conversation with all your pretty historical pictures and political cartoons?

http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-03.htm#P576_78223

Run a word search for apartheid on the above link and you will come right to it.

Cuban nationals are routinely barred from enjoying amenities open to foreigners. In a phenomenon popularly known as "tourist apartheid," the best hotels, resorts, beaches, and restaurants are off limits to most Cubans, as are certain government health institutions.41

While I'm at it, how about those rights to freely associate? Oh sorry, Castro/Cuba does not allow that.

Cuba continues to discriminate politically in the provision of economic rights, most notably in the arena of labor rights, by banning all independent unions.39

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

45. Oh yeah, please answer my question

Was Raul elected or apponted? Should be easy for someone who knows Cuban history to answer.

One other question, what other political parties are legal to run in Cuba?

[Mika]

48. Was Rummy elected or appointed?

Rarely are Ministers of Defense elected.



http://www.poptel.org.uk/cuba-solidarity/democracy.htm

This system in Cuba is based upon universal adult suffrage for all those aged 16 and over. Nobody is excluded from voting, except convicted criminals or those who have left the country. Voter turnouts have usually been in the region of 95% of those eligible .

There are direct elections to municipal, provincial and national assemblies, the latter represent Cuba's parliament.

Electoral candidates are not chosen by small committees of political parties. No political party, including the Communist Party, is permitted to nominate or campaign for any given candidates.

--

Representative Fidel Castro was elected to the National Assembly as a representative of District #7 Santiago de Cuba.
He is one of the elected 607 representatives in the Cuban National Assembly. It is from that body that the head of state is nominated and then elected.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

51. He is not a Minister of Defense.

He is Vice President, among his four other titles.

He was elected like Stalin and Saddam were elected 99% margin but no opposing candidates.

[mark414]

52. how is that last part any different than america?

"the great Cuban unwashed are not allowed in the areas, resorts, and health clinics reserved for the foreign tourists (read people with MONEY)."


try being homeless in this country and then see how much access you have to ANYTHING...

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

53. It happens here so it is okay everywhere?

N/T

[mark414]

54. no

just don't use things that are happening in your country to bash them

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

55. Read a few more posts

I'm saying that Castro is not a warm fuzzy loving ruler of a Utopian society like some would have us believe. A society where everyone is welcome in every avenue and at every establishment without prejudice. Free to speak their mind on whatever they wish and to go home and vote for whomever they please.

I never excused ANY one for their treatment of ANYONE else.

We need to be genuine and hold EVERYONE to the same standard. But when it comes to Cstro, that is off limits. All of the sudden you are an unelightened low-brow for questioning anything about him.

If you think Chavez spent 3 hours by his bed side and both in red shirts for anything but propaganda, then you are kidding yourself. That was as much propaganda as * landing on an aircraft carrier in a fighter/bomber.

[Mika]

56. You gotta be kidding. Right?

Please show us just where the posts are that claim that Cuba is a "Utopian society".

Links please.

--


You just can't really be taken seriously when you compare Mr Chavez's visit to his longtime friend's hospital bedside on his birthday to GW Bush's landing on an aircraft carrier for the 'Mission Accomplished' speech. Mr Chavez has celebrated Mr Castro's b-day with his friend for many years - sometimes in Cuba and sometimes in Venezuela. Obviously Mr Castro couldn't make it to Venezuela, so your comparison to Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech is simply ridiculous, imo.


--

I think that the poster you are responding to is merely applying the adage that one should clean up one's own back yard before claiming the right to tell others to clean up theirs (and sanction them for not doing so on your timetable).

While you have said that you don't cotton-to the US's abuse, corruption, lack of democracy, etc, you seem to be more than willing to admonish and push Cuba to rectify its problems before the US does. Certainly the US exceeds Cuba in some areas of life and certainly Cuba exceeds the US in others. Instead of facing-off against each other the two countries should normalize relations and encourage exchanges and dialog so we can learn about each other's systems - help each other rectify the bad and encourage the good parts. Cuba has always wanted such a relationship with the US, but it is the US that has almost always given the cold shoulder to opening up such relationships. This is just where Cuba has taken the high road, and the US has taken the low road - especially so under the reign of GW Bush.

Instead of wallowing in ignorance about Cuba, we need to drop the hard line front and normalize relations with Cuba. In that way Americans would be more free to see just what really is going on in Cuba instead of having to rely on pro and/or anti Cuba propaganda. This would encourage helpful relationships that would benefit the citizens of both countries.

[Mika]

57. No links pointing out the Cuba=Utpoia posts on DU, I see.

Still waiting..

[GirlinContempt]

60. I think it's less the questioning of Castro

that makes people question posters low-brow-ity, and more statements like:
"If you think Chavez spent 3 hours by his bed side and both in red shirts for anything but propaganda, then you are kidding yourself. That was as much propaganda as * landing on an aircraft carrier in a fighter/bomber."

I'm not even actually sure where you were trying to go with that. Who's trying to drum up what with this 'propaganda'? WHY is it 'propaganda'?

[IntiRaymi]

28. Noriega playbook.

I don't know how this is going to play out - but my guess is that they don't want someone with a firm handle on Cuba leading that country once Fidel steps down.
They have a long line of stooges ready to betray the ideals, waiting for the right cue.

[MrPrax]

47. You got that right...

Those folks don't seem to have anything nice to say to anyone at the 'official' level...

Right said, pissed off at someone...long time to keep a 'hate' going...the US just seems pathetic these days...

[peacetalksforall]

9. There was extensive discussion a few years back about how U.S.

drug smugglers used the Cuban coast for transfers because it was ideal for two reasons - many remote isolated areas and not enough Cuban resources to secure their own island.

I would be willing to bet that the reason that the issue was 'killed at the highest level' based on what we know about other campaigns against Castro is that 1) it would expose the U.S. involvement in drug running and/or 2) the source of the data might have involved 'exaggerations'.

If it involves Cuba and Castro - you can stand back and/or disbelieve if it comes from a right wing facilitator like ABC.

[MidwestTransplant]

20. The cuban curve ball!

[frylock]

10. they've been blaming the cocaine problem on cuba when in reality..

it's traffiked through the Dominican Republic.

[IntiRaymi]

29. Not too mention the Bahamas, Mexico, etc.

It is a freaking joke that the USA has not done ANYTHING about the Bahamian problem.

[RagingInMiami]

11. Did ABC ever report on the CIA cocaine connection a few years back?

I wouldn't bet money on it.

[skids]

27. This site seems to be keping tabs on the Bush cocaine ring.

If you care to keep up to date on it...

http://madcowprod.com

[SOS]

13. Better check the CIA islands first

After near civil war in Jamaica in the late 1970s the US managed to get Michael Manley out and Edward Seaga in.
In the 1990s the US was busy in Haiti.
These two countries are the major transshipment points for Colombian merchandise.
Friends in Jamaica reporting unbearable crime and corruption due to the Colombia/US trade.

Maybe a Colombian jet did fly over Cuba 15 years ago?
You can be sure it landed in Jamaica or Miami.

[peacetalksforall]

14. Do you notice that drug investigations are not a high priority with this

administration, not even propaganda pieces. (Name the drug czar, if you can.)

But, it is now time to educate people about Raul Castro - Republican style. This is going to be interesting to observe.

[Tanuki]

17. George Bush cocaine connection?

People who live in glass crack houses should be careful of letting their media surrogates throw stones.
And then there was the whole business of the Reagan-Bush regime aiding and abetting drug trafficking in the interest of funding the contras in Nicaragua:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_contra

"In 1998, CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz published a two-volume report<22><23> that substantiated many of Webb's claims, and described how 50 contras and drug traffickers had been protected from law enforcement activity by the Reagan-Bush administration, and documented a cover-up of evidence relating to these activities. The report also showed that Oliver North and the NSC were aware of these activities. A report the same year by the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich also came to similar conclusions"

[Gman]

19. Clinton's Penis

[DURHAM D]

22. Maybe Noriega will soon get new cell mates - Raul and Fidel.

Actually, if our military was not so over extended in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon Israel - invading Cuba would have likely been one of our summer military exercises two to three years ago.

[Say_What]

24. Maybe Noriega will soon get new cell mates --BUSH I and BUSH II

Far more appropriate since Noriega was their pal and part of the Bush crime family.

[nolabels]

59. I would settle for the * gang getting cellmates with guys like.........

Wayne Robertson http://www.worldfreeinternet.net/news/nws153.htm

But then again, thinking twice, maybe not, it might make them feel too at home :shrug:

[yellowcanine]

36. I bet he has "cocaine burritos" in his freezer just as Noriega did.

Better ditch those burritos, Raul. Get rid of the evidence now.

[devilgrrl]

39. Oh puh-leeze!

Give me a fucking break! :nuke:

[Richard Steele]

42. Stupid question for ABC news: While Raul was allowing these coke planes...

...to use Cuban airspace,
_WHO_ was allowing them to use
U.S. airspace?

[Demeter]

46. Dubya would Know All About Cocaine, too

He learned it at Reagan's knee.

[Octafish]

50. Through George HW Bush.

Amadeus controls Dope Inc.

[lgn19087]

58. so it begins

first its cocaine connections, then terrorist connections, next thing you know he's trying to acquire WMD. Just wait. Soon they'll "discover" that Raul's bodyguard's niece's boyfriend's cousin's high school english teacher met with some terrorist. Then, we'll see footage of trucks driving on a highway. And, what else could trucks driving on a highway mean except for a hidden nuclear program?

[Judi Lynn]

61. Cuba has attempted for years to enlist the U.S. to work in cooperation

with Cuba to clean up drugs in the Caribbean, only to be snubbed over and over. Here's a quick grab from google:

Bush Urged on Drug Efforts With Cuba
Posted by FoM on August 28, 2001 at 18:41:50 PT
By Anne Usher, Associated Press
Source: Associated Press

Anti-Castro sentiment is preventing the United States from helping Cuba combat drug traffikers' increasing use of the Caribbean island as a transit point for cocaine and marijuana, former White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey said Tuesday.
McCaffrey said the Bush administration should ask a reluctant Congress to approve sharing intelligence on drug operations and develop targeted training programs with the Cuban government.

He said domestic outrage with President Fidel Castro, heightened during the Elian Gonzalez case and the shooting down of a plane carrying three Miami activists, prevented him from opening a dialogue with the Cubans on ways to jointly fight drug trafficking.

"Our current policy is mistaken and we do need to engage them on this issue," McCaffrey said in a speech at Georgetown University.

About 40 percent of cocaine in the United States is transported through the Caribbean and Cuban waters are increasingly being used as a transit point for South American suppliers, U.S. officials say.

Low-flying planes fly over the Cuba's keys, dropping bundles of cocaine that are picked up in speedboats destined for the United States. Cuban officials reported that in 1999 alone more than two tons of cocaine from airdrops washed ashore.
(snip)

Congress has repeatedly blocked efforts to increase cooperation with Cuba on drug interdiction, citing the belief that either Cuban officials are involved in the drug trade or that working with them would legitimize Castro's communist government.
(snip/...)

http://cannabisnews.com/news/10/thread10749.shtml

[HuffleClaw]

62. yeah suuuuuuuuuuure

what a load of years-old propaganda. they just aren't trying anymore.

[1932]

63. Oliver North -- working out of WH -- Cocaine connection.

Ok, say it were true. Wouldn't it be mighty hypocritical to complain about it when Republicans totally looked the other way when (and ran for Senate in VA) a man who was without a doubt employing cocaine dealers to fly weapons on the same planes that they were flying cocaine?

[1932]

64. If anyone cares to learn a lesson in the value of the testimony of con-

victed Columbian drug dealers in US prisons, you should read Peter Eisner's book about Manuel Noriega.

The us convicted Noriega based on the evidence of a couple convicted Colombians who cut deals for their testimony and often told contradictory stories, some of which were absurd.

One guy claimed that Noriega flew down to Columbia to help a drug dealer buy a sports car. Noriega said that the story was ridiculous on many levels, not the least (IIRC) was that many people in Columbia would have recognized him traipsing around from dealership to dealership, which would have caused a big diplomatic problem that would have been in the press, because when heads of state visit other countries, there are protocols that would have been followed.

It would be like claiming Bill Clinton sneaked into Canada in 1998 and went around trying to help Carla Homulka buy a Jeep Cherokee in London, Ontario, and nobody noticed.

[Judi Lynn]

Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror

Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror

By Frank Joyce, AlterNet. Posted August 16, 2006.

It wasn't Libya, Afghanistan, or any other Arab-based group that first blew up a commercial airplane. Al Qaida had nothing to do with it. That first attack, on Oct. 6, 1976, came when Cuban-American terrorists and mercenaries blew up a Cuban civilian airliner. All 73 on board went down to a fiery and gruesome death, including the teenage members of the Cuban fencing team returning from a competition in Venezuela.

This tacitly U.S.-supported terrorist crime never appears on the "history" list of incidents involving civilian airliners, at least not in the U.S. media. Why? Cognitive dissonance is one explanation. The syllogism goes like this: The United States is a good country. Terrorism is bad. The United States funds and protects terrorists. Uh-oh -- we certainly can't talk about that.

In Barbados, where the bomb was placed on the Cuban airliner, the mercenaries were tried and convicted for the crime and served time. But the planners and instigators of the plot, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, got away clean. Posada is today being protected by the U.S. government from an extradition demand by Venezuela, where the crime was planned. (In a delicious irony, the U.S. government's position is that he can't be extradited to Venezuela because he would be tortured there.) Over the objections of his own justice department, George H. W. Bush in effect pardoned Orlando Bosch. He is today a free man living in Miami where he gives gloating TV interviews about his role in blowing up the plane.

The Cuban airline bombing was anything but an isolated incident. On Sept. 4, 1997, as on other occasions, U.S.-sponsored terrorists set off bombs in Havana hotels and restaurants. This time, one killed a tourist from Italy, Fabio de Celmo. Over the years death and injury to civilians has come from thousands of other attacks carried out in Cuba and elsewhere by land, air and sea against villagers, fisherman, children, tourists and diplomats by terrorists based in Florida.
(snip/...)

http://www.alternet.org/story/40370/

[Mika]

69. Aiding and abetting these groups is OK though, according to HRW & AI..

.. both NGOs mewl about the arrests of agents working in league with these terra groups (as well as being on the payroll of the state sponsor of some of these ops - the US gov).

Funny how so many Cubaphobes refuse to acknowledge this association.

Funny how so many Cubaphobes refuse to acknowledge that the Cuban government has a right and a duty to protect the citizens of Cuba from such terrorism.

[Judi Lynn]

65. Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror

Cuban Exiles Wage War of Terror

By Frank Joyce, AlterNet. Posted August 16, 2006.

It wasn't Libya, Afghanistan, or any other Arab-based group that first blew up a commercial airplane. Al Qaida had nothing to do with it. That first attack, on Oct. 6, 1976, came when Cuban-American terrorists and mercenaries blew up a Cuban civilian airliner. All 73 on board went down to a fiery and gruesome death, including the teenage members of the Cuban fencing team returning from a competition in Venezuela.

This tacitly U.S.-supported terrorist crime never appears on the "history" list of incidents involving civilian airliners, at least not in the U.S. media. Why? Cognitive dissonance is one explanation. The syllogism goes like this: The United States is a good country. Terrorism is bad. The United States funds and protects terrorists. Uh-oh -- we certainly can't talk about that.

In Barbados, where the bomb was placed on the Cuban airliner, the mercenaries were tried and convicted for the crime and served time. But the planners and instigators of the plot, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, got away clean. Posada is today being protected by the U.S. government from an extradition demand by Venezuela, where the crime was planned. (In a delicious irony, the U.S. government's position is that he can't be extradited to Venezuela because he would be tortured there.) Over the objections of his own justice department, George H. W. Bush in effect pardoned Orlando Bosch. He is today a free man living in Miami where he gives gloating TV interviews about his role in blowing up the plane.

The Cuban airline bombing was anything but an isolated incident. On Sept. 4, 1997, as on other occasions, U.S.-sponsored terrorists set off bombs in Havana hotels and restaurants. This time, one killed a tourist from Italy, Fabio de Celmo. Over the years death and injury to civilians has come from thousands of other attacks carried out in Cuba and elsewhere by land, air and sea against villagers, fisherman, children, tourists and diplomats by terrorists based in Florida.
(snip/...)

http://www.alternet.org/story/40370/

[killbotfactory]

66. This article has a serious connection to bovine fecal matter

[qwertyMike]

67. Somehow

Iran, I mean Iran-Contra came into my mind. And some Patriot Ollie North, and dead President Reagan.

Wasn't there some deal about drugzzzzzzzzzzzzzz / arms to your next enemy?

CIA in there somewhere?

Maybe not. My history of your country is shaky
Go home. Stay home.

Mick

[Matariki]

68. Oh, just like the Bush family is using Haiti now?

must be competition.

[confludemocrat]

70. ABC: brain dead catapulter of the propaganda

"There were numerous national security and intelligence issues that would have made the case difficult," this sentence just screams bullshit and the Carlos Lehder supposed testimony administers the coup de grace