Below are some of the key players within the Miami Mafia
Like so many of the powerful in the exile community he is an offspring of Batista's old guard. His father Rafael Díaz-Balart was the president of the organization known as Youth for Batista and a legislator along with his father in the congress imposed by dictator Batista after his coup détat on March 10, 1952. Shortly after the triumph of the revolution Rafael Diaz-Balart formed a counterrevolutionary group made up mainly of criminals of war and people with ties to the Batista dictatorship.
In New York Lincoln Díaz-Balart was a member of the terrorist organization ABDALA. Currently he is the Republican congressman of the State of Florida. His campaigns are fundamentally funded by the extreme right wing of the Cuban exile and the CANF. His extreme right wing position can be seen as he defended publicly Miami Cuban terrorist Orlando Bosch, eventually testifying in the trial of this extremist. It must be added that in his electoral campaign in Miami at the time of the trial one of his themes was the liberation of this bloody terrorist.
Lincoln Balart who helped in the writing of the Helms-Burton Act, is a strong supporter of this bill as well as other bills against Cuba. Like most of the so called leaders in the exile he is staunch defender of right wing causes. He is an anexionist, as well, wishing for Cuba to be under the tutelage of the US. His speeches are are full of rhetoric, misinformation and hate against Cuba. His speeches call for confrontation between the US and Cuba, often exalting the US to invade the island. He has appeared in C-Span giving prolonged speeches on the "threat" Cuba poses for the US and how congress should deal with it. The problem is that he usually talks to himself as he gives these speeches after the great majority of the congressmen have left. It seems that many in congress are sick and tired of his tirades.
He is currently the director of Brothers to the Rescue. He is highly visible in the press specially the Hispanic press. And as most exile leaders he is portrayed as a humble and decent man.
After Cuba shot down the two planes of Brothers to the Rescue - after repeated warnings by the Cuban government - he was shown on television praying in church, mourning for the loss of life. Looks and sounds wonderful doesn't it?
But who is this man? Is he as angelic as he is made out to look by the press? What is his past?
In the 60's he receives training in CIA and military operations along with Mas Canosa and others, at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In the exile combat brigade set up to attack Cuba, in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Brigade 2506, Basulto wore the number 2522. This meant that he was the 22 member to be recruited by the CIA.
After his participation in the Bay of Pigs invasion he continues his attacks on the island, attacking the coasts of Cuba using high caliber weapons and a speed boat. In 1962 he utilizes a speed boat and attacks a Havana hotel with a 55mm. caliber machine gun. This hit and run tactic is not new to the Miami terrorist as it has been used by Basulto and others to attack Cuba. It is their modus operandi.
He is currently the director of Brothers to the Rescue. He is highly visible in the press specially the Hispanic press. And as most exile leaders he is portrayed as a humble and decent man.
After Cuba shot down the two planes of Brothers to the Rescue - after repeated warnings by the Cuban government - he was shown on television praying in church, mourning for the loss of life. Looks and sounds wonderful doesn't it?
But who is this man? Is he as angelic as he is made out to look by the press? What is his past?
In the 60's he receives training in CIA and military operations along with Mas Canosa and others, at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In the exile combat brigade set up to attack Cuba, in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Brigade 2506, Basulto wore the number 2522. This meant that he was the 22 member to be recruited by the CIA.
After his participation in the Bay of Pigs invasion he continues his attacks on the island, attacking the coasts of Cuba using high caliber weapons and a speed boat. In 1962 he utilizes a speed boat and attacks a Havana hotel with a 55mm. caliber machine gun. This hit and run tactic is not new to the Miami terrorist as it has been used by Basulto and others to attack Cuba. It is their modus operandi.
During the Contras fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, Basulto was a pilot flying back and forth between the two nations. One must be aware that the Kerry Commission, a commission set up by congress to investigate the financing of the Contras, in 1989, which led to the Iran-Contra scandal, found that the Contras were being financed illegally by the sales of arms and drugs - this led to the indictment of Oliver North. While drugs were being transported by plane from neighboring bases in Honduras and Guatemala, there was Basulto piloting planes back and forth between the US and these countries. What was Basulto doing at this time? Was he a boy scout while millions of dollars in drug money was being transported? Although it has never been proven some people have stated that he was head deep in drug trafficking.
In the 90's when the crisis of the raft people began Basulto, allied with Billy Schuss, another veteran of the CIA who specialized in infiltration and commando attacks to create Brothers to the Rescue.
The Brothers to the Rescue which is composed of different nationalities, all with an anticommunist fervor, was created apparently to rescue the Cuban raft people from the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits. And as such as they rescued some rafters they were described by the press as a humanitarian organization. But their actions and deeds indicate this to be far from the truth, as facts indicate that the humanitarian aspects is just facade for their real intents.
At the end of 1994 the US government worried about the mass exodus - caused by the economic crisis in the island - signed an immigration accord with Cuba. This agreement whose main provision was that the Cuban raft people who were intercepted by the US coast guard were to be returned to Guantanamo Base in Cuba caused a great furor in the recalcitrant exile community, as their privileges of the Cubans and of the exiles were thought to be diminished and curtailed. The exile Cuban community felt betrayed by the Clinton administration.
At this time the leaders of 20 extreme right wing organizations among them the CANF and Brothers to the Rescue called for an emergency meeting whose main objective was to create concerted actions to pressure the Clinton administration to break the immigration accord that had recently been signed. The real purpose of the meeting was however, as they were always been was to plan to overthrow the Cuban government.
When the influx of raft people was stopped, and as the Brothers to the Rescue saw it's existence in danger the organization came up with a new gimmick: to serve as the eyes of the exile community to "guarantee" that the US and Cuba did not violate the human rights of the raft people.
Basulto and his organization Brothers to the Rescue went beyond the humanitarian nature when it started to flagrantly violate Cuban airspace and disperse antigovernment propaganda in Havana. Furthermore, Juan Pablo Roque a Cuban agent infiltrated in the Brothers to the Rescue, and who worked for the FBI testified that the Brothers to the Rescue and CANF among others planned terrorist attacks against military and civilian targets in Cuba.
One of the main objectives of violating Cuban airspace was to provoke a US-Cuba confrontation. To that end the Brothers to the Rescue violated Cuban airspace on twenty different occasions, until 1996 when two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down, this after they threw anti government propaganda and inciting the people to riot.
Basulto like all exile leaders lives a life of luxury. Living like a king in his half a million dollar home in Miami. All this without a visible job that supports his expensive lifestyle. Of course most of his wealth comes from the anti Cuban propaganda and the business it generates.
He hides behind his organization, masquerading himself as a humanitarian, hiding his and his organizations terrorist plots and schemes, and as such Brothers to the Rescue can be categorized as a terrorist organization.
This fascist terrorist like many others utilize the human rights theme against Cuba as a smokescreen to hide their real intentions which is to overthrow violently Cuba's Socialist government and to establish a capitalist system all under the whims of the US.
In 1968 he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for his participation in a counterrevolutionary group named Microfacion. As a member of this group he was accused of espionage and conspiracy against the government.
In the 80's as Ronald Reagan was trying to isolate Cuba internationally by manipulating the human rights issue in Cuba Bofill organized a small group responsible for gathering and sending to foes of the island supposed human rights violations.
In August of 1986 he took refuge in the French embassy, leaving it on January of 1986, returning home without fanfare.
A few months later after having a dispute with Elizardo Sanchez the organization splits up. And like what occurs in many of these organizations, another member Tania Diaz breaks rank with the group to head her own organization. Later Tania Diaz quits the organization and denounces the human rights organizations as being financed and directed by the CIA.
Bofill meanwhile was shown to be a political dissident when he was filmed by Cuban television accepting money from officials of the US Interest Section in Havana. On October of 1986, after being totally discredited in Cuba he leaves the island, only to be hailed by the international press, and by Amnesty International, which called him a hero. Now this opportunist and rogue is another of the thousands of scoundrels who live of anti Cuban propaganda and of the salary received from Washington.
Is the director of the organization Current Civic, an organization financed and directed by the CANF. Mr. Bone is also a member of the Cuban Council, an organization financed by Washington and the extreme right wing of the exile. He is also a member of the Cuban Hispanic Foundation.
Another Cuban exile terrorist. Along with Cuban-American terrorist, Posada Carriles , he is considered as one of the bloodiest terrorist in the exile community. He like many Cuban exile leaders were trained by the CIA in the use of sabotage and the use of explosives.
After serving a few years in a Venezuelan jail for the downing of a Cuban passenger plane and upon returning to the US the FBI arrests him - as 31 countries deny him the right of stay.
Describing him as a threat to national security, he is prosecuted for his acts of terrorism. Attorney General Whitley, in a brief before the court described Bosch:
"During 30 years, Bosch has abdicated a life of violent terrorism. He has threatened and has carried out terrorist acts against many targets, including friendly nations and it's officials. His actions has been the actions of a terrorist, lacking in legality and human decency, threatening and inflicting violence without considering his victims."
The prosecuting attorney Whitley concludes: The United States cannot tolerate the inherent inhumanity of terrorism as a means of resolving conflict. Uniting with those that use force only gives rise to more terrorists. We have to view terrorism as a universal evil, even when directed towards those who we do not sympathize with."
With this the US courts order the deportation of Orlando Bosch the terrorist. However this CIA trained terrorist was never deported as then President George Bush, Sr. and former head of the CIA, pardoned him. It must be added that Otto Reich the current director of Latin American Affairs of now president Bush worked behind the scenes with the CANF to free Bosch from the Venezuelan jail.
This terrorist is a free man, walking freely the streets of Miami, a hero of the Cuban exile. It may astound some to know that while Elian Gonzalez was a political prisoner of the Cuban exile, terrorist Orlando Bosch often visited little Elian; eventually giving and dedicating a book to Elian.
In 1960, he moves to the US, where he is recruited and trained by the CIA in sabotage and the use of explosives.
The history of this terrorist and his band is well documented by the FBI and the press:
1/25/68 Bombs explode at different commercial establishment in the US
2/1/68 Bombs the Mexican Consulate in Miami
2/2/68 Bombs the residence of the British consul
3/12/68 Bombs a Cuban-American restaurant 3/13/68 Bombs the Consulate of Chile in the US
4/22/68 Bombs a tourist office of Spain in the US
5/568 Bombs the British ship Greenwood 5/25/68 Bombs the Japanese ship, Aroka Maru
6/21/68 Bombs a tourist office of Spain in the US
6/23/68 Bombs Mexican tourist office in the US
6/27/68 Bombs the garage of the Mexican consulate
7/4/68 Bombs the Cuban Consulate in Canada
7/4/68 Bombs Japanese office of tourism in the US
7/11/68 A bomb explodes near the Cuban Mission in New York, causing damage to the Yugoslavian consulate
7/11/68 Bombing of the Japanese ship Michagesan, in Mexico
7/14/68 Bombing of the Mexican office of tourism in the US
7/15/68 Bomb discovered in the offices of the French government in the US
7/16/68 A bomb is discovered in the Mexican Consulate in the US
7/17/68 Bombing of a Cuban diplomat's house in the US
7/19/68 Bombing of a French tourist office in the US 7/19/68 Bombing of the Shell Petroleum Company building in Britain
7/19/68 Bombing of a Japanese travel agency in the US
7/26/68 Bombing of a Mexican travel agency in the US
7/31/68 Bombing of the British Consulate in the
US 8/3/68 Bombing of a British bank in the US
8/5/68 Bombing of the offices of the US Communist Party
8/7/68 Bombing of the Bahamian ship, Caribbean Venture in the US
8/9/68 Bombs against Mexican representatives in the US
8/9/68 in the residence of the Mexican consul in Miami
9/11/68 Bombing of a British ship in Mexico
9/16/68 Bombing of the Spanish ship, Satrustegui in Puerto Rico
9/16/68 Bosch fires a bazooka at a Polish ship, in Miami
9/17/68 A bomb is placed on board of a Mexican airliner in the US
9/19/68 Bombing of the Mexican Consul's house in the US
10/18/68 Bombing of Canadian travel agency
10/20/68 Gas bombing in a theater where a Cuban artist was performing
10/24/68 Assassination attempt against the UN Cuban ambassador in the US
7/26/68 Bombing of a Mexican tourist agency in the US
8/6/69 Bombing of the of the offices of Shell Oil of Britain in the US
8/6/69 Bombing of the offices of Air France in the US
In 1972, Bosch and his friend terrorist Guillermo Novo Sampol, travel to Chile and work for the fascist junta of Augusto Pinochet. They partake in numerous murder attempts against Chilean exiles.
With the formation of this terrorist organization a new wave of bombing begin:
1974
1/21 Bombing of Cuban diplomatic offices in Canada, Argentina and Peru and Mexico
2/13 Bombing of the Cuban embassy in Madrid, Spain
4/4 Bombing of Prensa Latina (news agency) in Mexico
10/1 Bombing of the Panamanian embassy in Caracas, Venezuela
10/30 Bombing of the Friendship Venezuelan-Cuban Institute in Venezuela
11/14 Bombing of US hotel in which Cuban officials
3/19 The assassination of former General of the armed forces of Chile, Carlos Pratts and his wife in Argentina
1975
July Shots fired at the house of the Cuban official in the US
8/3 Assassination plot against the Cuban Ambassador, Emilio Aragones, in Argentina
11/17 Bombing of a travel agency in Venezuelan.
11/17 Bombing of the Cuban Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela
10/30 Bombing of commercial offices of the USSR in Mexico
10/5 Assassination attempt in Rome against Bernardo Leighton, vice president of the Democratic Party of Chile and his wife
1976
In 1976, Bosch forms Coordinator of Unified Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), in which most of the members were in the CIA. Using this organization he orders a new wave of bombing. In an interview, on May 3, 1977, with the NY Times, entitled "I am declaring the war", Bosch declares that CORU is responsible for more than fifty terrorist attempts, while denying his personal responsibility for any of these attempts.
March - Bosch is arrested in Costa Rica under suspicion of the murder attempt of Chilean exile Andres Pasca Allende
9/21 The assassination in Washington, D.C, of a former official of the Allende government, Orlando Letelier and his aid Ron Moffit.
1976
6/6 Bomb is placed in the UN Cuban Mission in New York
7/1 Bombing of the Center of Culture Cuba-Costa Rica, in Costa Rica
7/8 Bombing of Cuban Mission in Spain
9/7 Bombing of the warehouse of Cuban airliner, Cubana de Aviacion in Kingston, Jamaica
7/10 Bombing of the offices of Cubana de Aviacion in Barbados
7/11 Bomb placed in the offices of Air Panama in Colombia
7/23 Kidnapping attempt of the Cuban ambassador in Merida, Mexico, causing the death of a Cuban official, D'Artagnan Diaz Diaz.
9/8 Kidnapping of two Cuban diplomats in Argentina. They were never heard of again.
9/10 Bomb placed in the Embassy of Guyana in Trinidad, Tobago
9/18 bombing of the offices of Cubana de Aviacion in Panama
10/6 The most horrific terrorist act committed by exile terrorist occurs when Orlando Bosch with terrorist Posada Carriles blow up a Cuban passenger plane killing 73 innocent people
For more information and video video click CRIME IN BARBADOS
Terrorist attacks by CORU continue: 1977
3/30 Bombing of Venezuelan Consulate in Puerto Rico 8/30 Bombing of the Venezuelan airliner in Miami
12/23 Bombing of the offices of Viasa (airliner) in the US 12/30 Bombing of the Venezuelan embassy in Puerto Rico
In 1978, Bosch orders from his cell in Venezuelan reprisals against Mexican interests - for Mexico's action after the death of the Cuban official D'Artagan Diaz Diaz in that country.
2/7 Bombing of the Mexican Consulate in the US
2/7 Bombing of the Mexican ship, Azteca. causing two deaths and the injury of seven on board
From his cell he directs Omega - 7, a terrorist group to carry out other terrorist acts.
9/9 Bombing of the Cuban Mission in New York
10/5 Bombing in front of Madison Square Garden, to protest a US-Cuba boxing competition
10/6 Bombing of the travel agency, Girasol, an agency belonging to the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico
10/6 Bombing of the travel agency Antillana in Puerto Rico
10/6 Bombing of the offices of Record Public Service, in Puerto Rico 10/23 Bombing of the New York newspaper, La Prensa
11/18 Bomb threats against TWA
12/28 Bombing of the travel agency Varadero in Puerto Rico
12/29 Bombing of the UN Cuban Mission in New York
12/29 Bombing of Lincoln Center in New York
1979
3/26 Bombing of offices of TWA in JFK airport, NY
3/26 Bombing of a firm in Weehawken, New Jersey as the director of this company Eulalio J. Negrin headed the committee of 75, an organization which favored dialogue with Cuba
4/28 The assassination of Carlos Muniz Varela, a member of the Antonio Maceo Brigade ( young Cubans who supported Cuba ) and director of Varadero Travel in Puerto Rico
11/25 Assassination of Eulalio Negrin
9/11 Assassination of UN Cuban Diplomat Felix Garcia Rodriguez in New York City
It is important to note that some members of the terrorist group directed by Posada Carriles, terrorists like Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, Pedro Remon and Novo Sampol who have violent past and have committed numerous assassinations all have ties with Orlando Bosch; and most importantly that the former head of the Cuban American National Foundation, Jorge Mas Canosa had ties with Posada Carriles.
For more information: CRIME IN BARBADOS
Another ex CIA agent and former director of the terrorist groups ABDALA and the National Liberation Front of Cuba. He also was one of the first directors of the CANF.
Presently he is one of the directors of Freedom House and Cuban Committee of Human rights. Both of these organizations amply financed by the US government. He also receives substantial amounts of money from the International Development Agency in Washington. He is also the director of Free Cuba Center; a center financed by Washington.
Calzon finances the activities of Gustavo Arcos and other counterrevolutionaries in Cuba.
His various activities and his receiving perks from Washington - at tax payers expense - has made made it possible for Calzon like other leaders in the exile to live like a king.
This former CIA agent is a spokesman of the recalcitrant exile and is highly visible in the media, often appearing in interviews and in round table discussions, always expounding the propaganda of the Cuban exile. His major objective like all others in the exile is to misinform, slander and demonize the Cuban issue before the American public.
One of the bloodiest terrorists of the Cuban exile. This was another CIA agent that was trained in sabotage and the use of bombs This terrorist was an intimate friend of Jorge Mas Canosa, the now deceased and former head of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). Further evidence of this terrorist ties with the CANF can be found in an article published by the NY Times; an article which describes the close ties of both and how the CANF financed Posada's terrorist activities in Central America.
In 1976, this terrorist along with Orlando Bosch, a Cuban American terrorist living in Miami direct the bombing of a Cuban airliner, heading back with the Cuban fencing team, as it had just competed in a tournament in Central America. 73 innocent people died in this horrific bombing.
At this moment 3/14/02 Posada Carriles aong with other terrorists are being detained by Panamanian authorities for plotting to assassinate President Castro as he was attending the Conference of Heads of State of Latin America; as they planned to bomb a university in Panama in which President Fidel Castro was to speak.
In the 60's he moves to Venezuela, becoming in 1967 a member of the Intelligence Service of that nation. He later becomes the Chief of Operations; a position which enabled him to be a liaison between members of his team and the CIA.
In 1976 he along with terrorist Orlando Bosch mastermind the downing of a Cuban passenger airliner, killing in the process 73 innocent people. For this horrendous crime he is imprisoned till August 18, 1985, when with the help of the CANF he escapes. After escaping from jail he moves to El Salvador - a haven for Cuban terrorist organizations - and becomes an advisor in the military base of llopango in the US led contra war against Nicaragua.
He then moves to Guatemala, becoming an advisor to the telephone company in that country. On February 1990 he is seriously injured in a bomb attempt. At this time the CANF, through one of it's director Alberto "Pepe" Hernandez pays his hospital bill and gives him financial support. After his recuperation he is moved to the city of San Pedro Sula in Honduras - another haven for Cuban terrorist - where he is set up in a hotel, all expenses paid by his friend, entrepreneur of Cuban decent Rafael Hernandez Nodarse.
In the 90's he maintained close ties with extremist Miami groups, terrorist Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo and others, to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. He also kept in touch with the aforementioned to acquire arms in Central America with the aim of attacking Cuba.
During this time he traveled frequently to to Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica and El Salvador - countries ruled by right wing governments and death squads. It must be added that Miami based terrorist groups have always maintained close ties with military and businessmen, and some officials of the government of these nations.
At this time he also traveled extensively to Miami, Spain, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Aruba. One may ask at this point where does he get so much money to do all of this?
In January of 1994 he participated in a plan financed by the CANF to assassinate President Fidel Castro in Honduras, as the president of Cuba was attending the inauguration of newly elected Honduran president Carlos Roberto Reina. In June of that same year he travels with Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo to Colombia with similar plans.
In June 1995 he traveled to Costa Rica to bomb a Cuban ship. And in December with Ramon Orozco Crespo he plans a bomb attempt against a Cuban objective.
In 1997, according to Dr. Ramon Custodio, head of the Human Rights Committee in Honduras, Posada Carriles took part along side with military led death squads in 41 bombings.
In 1997 organizes, with the help of CANF a terrorist net with the objectives of executing terrorist attacks against Cuba. At this time he recruits mercenaries to place bombs in Havana. During this time, with the aid of a director of the CANF, Arnaldo Monzón Plasencia and counterrevolutionaries living in Venezuela, Nelly Rojas, Pedro Morales and Francisco Pimentel, among others, Posada Carriles prepares a plan to assasinate President Castro, as he was attending the VII Conference of Heads of State of Latin American Countries in Isla Margarita, Venezuela.
Havana bombings - In April of 1997 terrorist attacks begin in Cuba. Two Salvadorenians are recruited by Posada Carriles to place bombs in Havana. The two mercenaries prepared 14 bombs: 4 were deactivated, two were deactivated in the airport. The 8 bombs that exploded caused damage in public places, such as hotels and restaurants. The bombs caused the death of a young Italian tourist and injuries.
The offices of Havanatour in the Bahamas and Cubanacan in Mexico were bombed.
Posada Carriles along with terrorist from Miami participated in the planning of the assassination of Cuban President Fidel Castro during his August 1998 visit to Dominican Republic. That same year he planned a terrorist attack on a Cuban airliner as it traveled to Havana to Central America.
From 1999 to 2000 Posada Carriles along with other terrorists plan a series of attacks in and out of Cuba. For this purpose they purchase arms, ammunitions and explosives.
In his attempt to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro during the X Conference of Heads of State of Latin America, he has talks with Francisco "Pepe" Hernandez and Alberto Hernandez both directors of the CANF. To purchase arms, ammunition and explosives for this attack Carriles through terrorists Gaspar Jimenez and Antonio Iglesias receives money from the CANF.
Between August and October of the previous year Carriles with
a false identity traveled to Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. In Costa
Rica he received the finances and the facility to transport the arms to Panama -
the place of the terrorist attack.
For more information: CRIME
IN BARBADOS
During the Kerry Commission investigations of CIA involvement in the illegal sale of drugs and arms known as the Iran - Contra scandal, this agent of the CIA admitted that he had been trafficking arms and drugs in and out of Nicaragua. It is important to note that two brothers, Alberto and Pepe Hernandez, both directors of the CANF, worked from Miami with Corvo in these illegal actions.
While she worked as as the Cuban ambassador in UNESCO she was recruited in Paris by the CIA. Along with Elizardo Sánchez, Gustavo Arco and Ricardo Bofill, all so called dissidents she formed the first counterrevolutionary organization within Cuba to send supposed human rights violations to US delegates in the UN.
He is a director of the CANF in Miami. as well as, a member of the Cuban Hispanic Foundation of Spain. The political party in Spain, United Left, has denounced him before the Congress of Deputies as a terrorist who has plotted to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. The FBI has indicated that in 1997 the assassination was to take place in Venezuela during his participation of the Conference of Heads of States of Latin America.
A Cuban priest who while in Cuba hid terrorist Angel Betancourt Cueto, after this terrorist had murdered two employees of the Cuban airliner, Cubana de Aviación, during a hijacking attempt. After serving ten years for aiding an abetting a terrorist he leaves for the US, where he becomes active in the activities of the extreme right wing exile in New York. As a priest he travels the globe as a spokesman of the Cuban exile, accusing the Cuban government of religious intolerance.
As he was a small landowner, and like some of the bourgeoisie in Cuba, he joined the revolution only to rebel after it went against his own interests. He was promoted to Major in the revolutionary army and on October of 1959, accusing the government of being communist, he rebelled. Days before his rebellion a plan directed by then Dominican dictator Trujillo to overthrow the new government had been discovered and defeated. One of the mercenaries implicated in this plot had in his possession documents implicating Matos.
In 1979, after serving 20 years in prison for conspiracy he immigrates to Costa Rica; and becomes, according to a newspaperman Luis Martinez a defender of Cuban dictator Batista, a CIA agent.
The following year the US government thru different agencies gives Matos 200,000 dollars to create the Independent and Democratic Cuba organization (CID), with the aim of spreading anti Cuban propaganda among political parties and government in all continents. He was highly touted as Washington constantly played out the fact that he had been a Major in the revolutionary army and that he had been a political prisoner.
In 1981, with the aid of the Reagan administration he launches a radio station named the Voice of CID. This station like all the stations of this genre, is financed by Washington and the extreme right wing in Miami. This station which can be heard in Cuba as well as the US, has as it's principal objective, like all of the exile radio stations, to bombard the airwaves with misinformation and slander on issues concerning the island, in addition to inciting the people of Cuba to rebel against the Socialist government. It is important to note that there are 20 stations continuously bombarding the island with anti Cuban propaganda; propaganda that in 1997 for example reached a record 700,000 hours. It must be added that all of these transmission have been deemed illegal by international broadcasting organizations and watch groups and that Washington has cared very little about worldwide opinions on this subject.
When Bill Clinton signed another anti-Cuban bill named the Helms Burton Act there was Mr. Matos celebrating it. He was elated by a provision of the legislation which apportioned 4 to 8 millions of dollars to stimulate the Cuban armed forces to betray their country. It seems that he does not care that this money is being used to buy souls and that this huge sum of money has to be paid with political favors. Further evidence of Matos moral character are the comments he has made to president Aznar of Spain and officials of Aznar's right wing party, Partido Popular, that, "the fall of Castro would be best for you, the Europeans and the Americans." Mr. Matos comments seems as though a head of a mafia was talking about redistributing the wealth.
As a good anexionist ( a Cuban-American who believes that living under the boots of the US is the greatest thing ever ) he has stated in numerous occasions that the US is the greatest country on the planet and that it's institutions are the best in the world (like Enron?); and that it affords an opportunity to all those who are willing to make an effort. This is of course to be expected as Uncle Sam has been more than generous with the exile "leaders", giving them a free hand and rewarding them with fabulous perks.
It seems as though this axenionist is living in Disneyland as he does not see that more and more people despite an economic boom are falling behind; the standard of living is falling for the majority of the people. And that in real terms the opportunity for all does not exist, for there still exists discrimination against Hispanics and Blacks.
Note from the author: I had the opportunity to meet a member of Humberto Matos organization, as a friend of mine brought him over to my house. To entertain him I showed him a video of the Cuban Musical group Los Van Van playing in a theater in Havana. Shortly thereafter, he started to make some rather racist remarks about the members of Van Van. Referring to the fact that most of the members of the Van Van were blacks or mulattos, he stated, "even if you dress them in silk, they are still monkeys". He also went on to rave that the people in the audience had holes in their shoes and pants with holes - this as the Cuban cameras showed the people dancing in the auditorium. Out of decency and as I was a not as yet a militant defender of the Cuban revolution I did not send him to hell. I had the opportunity to see this person a few times more over the course of time and I came to realize what a piece of scum he was. After initially passing himself of as victim of the Castro regime, a political prisoner, I learned from his own lips the real truth: he was a truck driver who used to steal milk destined to children, furthermore he was imprisoned for having homemade bombs. After declaring himself a political prisoner (he was more a terrorist) he was given political asylum by the US.
I will never forget how many times he took out a card showing himself to be a member of Mato's organization CID, and how many times I thought if he characterizes the type of people that belong to this exile organization, then this group like most exile groups are made up of human scum.
This Spaniard was a leader of the troops of the Cuban revolution, only to later rebel against it. While Dominican dictator Trujillo was planning an attack against the new government Menoyo was a double agent.
In 1961 after the US gives him political he founds the terrorist organization Alpha 66.
In 1965 after entering Cuba illegally he is captured in Cuba while trying to organize counterrevolutionary groups inside the island. After being released in 1986 he returns to the US.
Recently founded an organization in Miami named Cubans for Change; a group whose platform expresses a necessity for a dialogue between the Cuban government and the Cuban exile. It seems that he has taken this position so as to insure a new niche for his organization. He has participated by invitation of the Cuban government in conferences involving political discussions and in themes relating to immigration.
To his credit Menoyo returned to Cuba in 2003 and decided to stay. The word on the street is that he went back because he figures that he will be there should there be a regime change.
In 1961 he was imprisoned for being a member of a terrorist organization financed by the CIA. After escaping from jail he asks and receives political asylum from the US ( his escape and his asylum could only have come from the fact that he was working for the CIA).
In 1970 he moves to Spain and founds Playor Press. A press specializing in counterrevolutionary books; books which try to demonize Cuba and it's leaders. He also creates Firmas News. A news service whose main purpose is to divulge anti Cuban propaganda to news agencies in Europe and America. In Spain he has huge offices fully equipped and fully staffed working 24 hours a day. Where does he get the financing? Many people say that he gets the resources from the CIA and Washington. It has been said that Montaner helped the terrorist Juan Felipe de la Cruz gain entry into Spain. It must be added that this terrorist died when a bomb he was making exploded.
During the 80's he organized many conferences and congresses in Europe and Latin America, many of them financed by the National Endowment for Democracy. And as is the case of many exile groups to get a piece of the action and to receive perks from the CIA and Washington and to make it appear as dissidents groups are larger than they really are, in 1990 Montaner founded the Cuban Liberal Union, a group that later became affiliated with counterrevolutionary right wing groups in Miami, among them Cuban Democratic Platform. In midst of all this inside of Cuba he was able to recruit Elizardo Sánchez and other so called dissidents to form Cuban Democratic Arrangement. Although he has been presented as a moderate, as some one who insists on a peaceful transition to a "democracy", he is an extremist, who is very vindictive and intolerant in his writings, specially when it comes to Cuba's Socialist government and it's leaders. He along with other right wing exiles have repeatedly stated that Fidel Castro must be assassinated and that should they be victorious there will take reprisals against all those who have invested in the island.
His writings show a deep admiration for neo-liberal policies and Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian writer, and extreme right winger. Both wrote a book describing as idiots all those who have fought for social justice, specially leftists and progressive people.
What does Montaner think of nearly two decades of neo-liberal policies in light of the collapse of Argentina? He still rants about how capitalism is the best thing there is and how neo-liberal policies should be a model for the planet.
He is one of the major spokesman for the Cuban exile, his editorials appearing often in the such Hispanic newspapers as, El Nuevo Herald, El Diario de Las Americas and El Hoy, newspapers that are controlled by the Cuban exile right wing exile. His writings clearly shows his right wing tendencies and his hate not only for President Fidel Castro but the Cuban people as well - as he is constantly slandering the people of the island.
Although he proclaims himself to be a liberal he supports the agendas of the right and the interests of the US empire. His articles and commentaries, as is the case with most of the writings of the Cuban exile reflect a totally pro US stance in which Latin American countries should adhere to their neo-colonial status with the exploiter. In a recent article written in a Spanish paper he describes the US as benevolent. It seems as though this stooge has conveniently forgotten the brutal history of the US empire with respect to the nations of Latin America, it's bloody invasions, it's plots against freely elected governments, it's support of and accommodations with bloody tyrants and corrupt officials; all of this costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children. Montaner must have also forgotten that the US is an inhumane, racist and violent society, in which the police can shoot an innocent man 41 times with totak impunity of the law.
For many years Montaner has had the support of the right wing Popular Party of Spain and José María Aznar, the current president of Spain. The romance between these two is so great that Aznar wrote a prologue in one of Montaner's books.
THROUGHOUT their lives they have pursued their personal interests, within the CIA and its networks, displaying total disdain for their adopted country, which they systematically discredit and deceive. They form the most dangerous axis that has ever penetrated the United States of America, the Axis of Deceit, and one of the many symptoms of a cancer which is slowly but surely leading that country down the road to perdition.
One of them works in the White House. He is Otto Reich, currently assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs – in other words, the U.S. government’s Number One man in Latin America.
The second is "Dr. Death" Orlando Bosch, the "capo" of the most fanatical terrorist group in Miami and the "godfather" of the Commando of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), the extremist secret society responsible for more than 50 murders in the United States, Cuba and other nations. He was "liberated" from a Venezuelan jail and absolved thanks to Number One.
The third, Luis Posada Carriles, is now in a Panamanian prison along with four accomplices in murder. He is another former "godfather" of CORU and guilty of innumerable attacks, was once the head of Venezuela’s political police, is a proven drug trafficker involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and a buddy of all the Miami and Central American mafiosos, and he now awaits his release – announced by his drug-dealing lawyer and financed by dirty tricks conceived by Number One and Number Two.
Of course, they have one common characteristic: in the early 1960s they fell into the clutches of the CIA and became the most rabid of that agency’s Cuban contacts. At the same time, through "the Company" they made fortunes from working for the million-dollar Cuban-American counterrevolutionary cartel, utilizing an impressive set of contacts established through deceit, extortion and terror.
They evolved in different ways: Reich, wearing a coat and tie, concentrated on penetrating the circles of power and palling around with the various capos of the Miami mafia; while Posada and Bosch guided the activities of their murderous organizations from Buenos Aires to Santo Domingo, from Montreal to Madrid and Luanda.
DISCOVERED BY CIA AGENT FRANK CALZONE, A MASTER OF DISINFORMATION
Born "accidentally" in Cuba, as a commentator once put it, of an Austrian father and a Cuban mother, Otto Reich was taken from the island when he wasn’t yet 15 years old, and his family took up residence in Charlotte, North Carolina, a considerable distance from the Caribbean.
He hooked up with the CIA while at the university, having been selected by Frank Calzón, who would become the CIA’s trusted agent in various disinformation operations. Later on, he would collaborate with Calzón on the Freedom House project, a supposedly pro-democratic invention of the CIA. A master of disinformation, Calzón recognized Reich as an able and willing student.
After getting his degree, Reich was anxious to act on his newly declared U.S. citizenship, so he went into the army for two years and was stationed in – guess what? – Panama, the Mecca of the counterinsurgency movement.
Otto Reich moved to Miami in 1972, very consciously linking himself to the right-wing Cuban-American circles that were already imposing their terrorist dominion on the city. Moreover, the CIA maintained its most active center of operations there, especially aimed at Cuba and the continent it planned to dominate.
ALL IS FAIR WHEN COVERING UP DIRTY TRICKS
Reich came into the public eye in the United States during the era of Ronald Reagan and the dirty war in Nicaragua. At that time he was chosen to head the Office of Public Diplomacy, conceived by the CIA to carry out officially – under the cloak of the State Department – the cover-up and disinformation he had already been doing covertly.
At that time, former CIA agent and former CIA Director George Bush was Reagan’s vice president and confidant. He took charge of sponsoring Reich’s entrance into those high levels of government, with the same determination he had used as CIA director to approve the creation of the strongest anti-Cuba terrorist organization, CORU, whose chain of crimes is almost endless.
Under the title of State Department Special Counsel for Public Diplomacy, he worked furiously on matters that later helped provoke what is known as the Iran-Contra Scandal, although it should have been called the Narco-Contra Super-scandal.
In Reich’s eyes, any action was justified in the effort to support the mercenary Nicaraguan contras, and of course to cover up the dirty tricks carried out by CIA operatives in that effort.
Today, the whole world knows that the arms sales to Iran were just the tip of an iceberg that included – in much larger proportions and multi-million-dollar profits for the contras – the transfer and sales of drugs (mostly marijuana and cocaine) from South American producers to the U.S. market.
This monstrous drug trafficking operation, engineered entirely by the CIA, utilized the network created in U.S. territory by the members of Operation 40, following the Bay of Pigs invasion. (For more information, see Jerry Meldon, The CIA’s Dope-Smuggling Freedom Fighters, available on the Internet.)
THE SAME OPERATION, FROM WASHINGTON TO ILOPANGO
From his office in Washington, Reich was in constant contact with two Cuban-Americans who were directing the whole operation: Félix Rodríguez (alias Max Gómez) and Luis Posada Carriles, both of whom worked out of the Ilopango air base in El Salvador.
Rodríguez was a Watergate burglar and a trusted confidant of George Bush Sr. In fact, years later, Bush officially received him in the White House, despite his criminal record, with full protocol.
Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch are the terrorists responsible in 1976 for blowing up a Cubana Airlines passenger plane in mid-flight, thereby killing all 73 persons on board. Posada Carriles has also carried out more than 50 assassination attempts, both successful and unsuccessful.
After the CIA and the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) helped him escape from the Venezuelan jail where he was being held in relation to the Cubana airplane bombing, Posada returned to his dirty work, and the CIA recognized his great talent in such activities.
For years, Reich energetically backed the efforts of these two Cuban-Americans with innumerable lies. He knew perfectly well that they were terrorists who had been specially trained by the CIA and utilized in that utterly illegal operation.
A report by the General Accounting Office would later expose to the U.S. Congress the nature of the deceitful maneuvers feverishly perpetrated by Reich, utilizing his government position.
As a result, the U.S. public discovered how, with taxpayers’ money, Reich had fabricated news items, with the objective of disinforming both the citizenry and the politicians, claiming that the Sandinistas were persecuting the Mesquite Indians, that they had purchased MiG-29s from the Soviet Union and that were preparing attacks on U.S. territory.
To promote these official lies, Reich expressly ordered that false letters of denunciation be written, signed with the names of the mercenary contra leaders.
Refining his methods, Reich used (illegally, of course) government funds to publish requests for donations to the contras. The purpose of this maneuver was to justify the existence of the money that really came from drug trafficking, collected by his cohorts in Ilopango and deposited in bank accounts, in Grand Cayman and Switzerland, belonging to anti-Sandinista mercenaries.
Reich’s collaboration with arch-terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was maintained until the Ilopango operation was exposed in October 1986, when a light aircraft belonging to the CIA was shot down. The pilot, Eugene Hasenfuss, not only denounced the drug trafficking operation, but also identified Félix Rodríguez and Luis Posada Carriles, the latter a fugitive from Venezuelan justice.
FOR ORLANDO BOSCH, REICH IS LIKE A BROTHER
Given this situation, the Reagan-Bush administration ushered Reich out the back door, suddenly appointing him U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.
In Caracas, Reich was so diplomatic that he was able to continue his activities of official deceit in Washington. Clearly, he was in Venezuela for one purpose: to find a solution, whatever the method, to the case of Posada’s buddy Orlando Bosch Avila, a CIA agent and also imprisoned for the bombing of the Cubana flight. Reich also serviced the Cuban exile mafia, also conspiring to get its piece of the U.S. pie.
Otto Reich was like a brother to Orlando Bosch. Using who knows what subterfuge, he obtained a court order for Bosch’s release, after having prepared his departure to his adopted land, Miami.
But Bosch’s case remained delicate: like Posada Carriles, Bosch had a terrible reputation in the United States. Despite his "exemplary" behavior in the CIA, the killer pediatrician had a long criminal record in that country, identifying him as a terrorist leader and eliminating his chance of being granted a visa.
What’s more, in an interview published in the May 3, 1977, issue of New Times, Bosch admitted to having responsibility for more than 50 attacks executed by CORU.
Having arrived from Cuba on July 28, 1960, with a 30-day visa, Bosch created the Insurrectional Movement for Revolutionary Recovery (MIRR), later identified by a representative of the Attorney General’s Office as "an anti-Castro terrorist organization."
On September 16, 1968, Bosch led a bazooka attack on a Polish merchant ship, the Polanica, in Miami harbor. On November 15, 1968, as punishment for that crime and for having sent letters containing death threats to the president of Mexico, the Spanish head of state and the British prime minister, the South Florida federal court sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment.
In 1972, Bosch violated parole by leaving the United States and reappearing in the Dominican Republic, where he and Posada Carriles took the lead in creating CORU. It goes without saying that there, he received not only the CIA’s blessing, but its total assistance.
AS IF LYING WERE AN INFALLIBLE METHOD
Otto Reich took recourse once again in deceit, as if lying were an infallible method.
He told State Department officials that a special team of Cubans were going to Venezuela to kill Bosch and that therefore Bosch had to be taken out of that country as soon as he was released from prison.
But those officials – apparently doubting the word of their former special counsel for public diplomacy – continued to refuse Bosch a visa. So Reich resorted once again to illegal methods.
He organized his protégé’s exit from jail and sent him directly to the United States, where he was arrested on May 17, 1988, for violating his parole.
Reich, by now a true believer in the power of deception, had to get Bosch out of jail again. It wasn’t so hard for him: he just asked President George H. Bush to spring him.
Even for the man then occupying the White House, and no less a former director of the CIA, obtaining the release of such a confirmed criminal – of a killer who had demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that he had no remorse for his actions, no matter what the outcome – isn’t an easy task.
An astute politician, Bush knew what was politically correct.
If he freed Bosch from prison, he ran the risk of provoking another scandal. But on the other hand, he had to worry about appeasing the Miami mafia, which could even decide the presidency, as Bush’s son proved a few short years later.
In July 1990, after consulting with the CIA and listening to the remarks of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen – always ready to support anti-Cuba terrorism, no matter what the consequences – George Bush Sr. signed the papers releasing the killer pediatrician.
Behind the scenes, "lobbyist" Otto Reich, the man truly responsible for this absurd decision, applauded Bush’s action.
Twelve years later, Orlando Bosch continues to endorse violence as a political solution and doesn’t lose a single opportunity to fan the flames of terror from within the Miami mafia.
In August 2001, three weeks before the criminal attack on the Twin Towers, Orlando Bosch and the most criminal elements of the Cuban-American community published a call to terrorism in the Miami Herald.
And just a few days ago, the man responsible for the destruction of a passenger plane in full flight and the resulting deaths of 73 people, along with more than 50 assassination attempts, several of them fatal, appeared once again on a public tribunal, as the guest of honor of 60 mafia groups and grouplets meeting to share their nostalgia for the Bay of Pigs.
These same terrorist groups hysterically demand the release of Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices from their Panamanian jail. And just last week they celebrated the White House’s official appointment of Otto Reich as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere!
Through all this, five Cuban patriots remain under lock and
key at five U.S. penitentiaries, for having risked their lives, fighting to
counteract the terrorist plans of Bosch and Posada Carriles. What an irony that
the two terrorists who belong to the Axis of Deceit can depend on the total
support of that government’s top authorities.
Ramón Saúl Sánchez is another "exile" leader who has miraculously turned into a pacifist, for at the age of 24 he was already second in command in a terrorist organization named the Jovenes de Estrella (Youth Stars), an organization which was part of a larger terrorist group headed by Orlando Bosch: CORU.
In 1995 Saúl Sánchez along with his organization Democracy Movement and Cuban National Commission, a terrorist group from New York and New Jersey, carry out a series of flotillas close to Cuban waters. On July 13 of 1995 to be exact they undertake a flotilla to provoke the Cuban government. This action like many other actions is financed in part by the extreme right wing Cuban exile; with people like Luis Felipe Roja family of a colonel in Batista's repressive army, Pepe Hernandez of the CANF and the Bacardi family supporting the flotilla.
This rogue like most leaders of the exiles make a living off the revolution and is often supported by the gullible who contribute money within that community. This slicker lives mainly off the flotillas, collecting money for flotillas which are in the most part symbolic and at other times ridiculous. One such ludicrous attempt was the scheme to have lights shinning from international waters to the Cuban skies with the message "democracy". It must be added that some of the flotillas never accomplish their goal as the boats chartered by this rogue are often in bad shape, encountering mechanical problems and/or taking in water in their journey; of course what this con man does is pocket most of the money with his cheap charters.
During the Elian kidnapping Saúl Sánchez often appeared on the press puking out the recalcitrant lies and exaggerations about Cuba, as well as, wholeheartedly supporting the notion that Elian should remain in the US. Saúl Sánchez must be given credit for he is a great showman. This is clearly demonstrated when he appeared on the news with his head bandage proclaiming himself as a victim of the INS raid during the Elian rescue in Miami. It was really pitiful how this poor man had been hurt! The only thing comical about this is that he had been filmed after the rescue and nothing was wrong with his head.
In 2000 this slicker to collect more funds created another scam called Return 2000. In this media show he declared that he was going to enter Cuba without a permit and consequently went on a hunger strike in front of the Cuban Mission in Washington. The hunger strikes like his flotillas are part of his job description.
On December 30, 1960 this former policeman during Batista's regime was arrested for placing bombs in public places. At the end of 1976 an international campaign was inaugurated to free him as he had been sold in the international scene as a hero of the human rights cause. In Spain, Carlos Alberto Montaner, was a major player in the campaign to free Valladares. It was during this time that this terrorist who had become a symbol of human rights, that he wrote some poems in a book entitled From My Wheelchair. It must have been very touching the poems written by this paraplegic but the only problem was that many years later it was discovered that he had plagiarized the writings.
During his incarceration in a Cuban jail he also wrote (?) the book Against all Hope, a book which was highly propagandized in Europe, as the National Endowment For Democracy in Spain spent hundreds of thousands of dollars publicizing it.
Much pressure was placed on the Cuban government for his release, as political groups, such as the social democrats, Christian democrats, and human rights groups clamored for his release - even a good friend of Cuba, French President Francois Mitterrand was involved. It must be added that during this time Amnesty International called him a prisoner of conscience, sending him a wheel chair in the process. This poor wheelchair bound prisoner of conscience became an international celebrity. The only thing was that he had been secretly video taped in a reading room in the Cuban prison leaving his wheelchair and exercising his legs. Of course this information was ignored and suppressed by the international press.
In 1982 after being freed he leaves for Spain; where shortly thereafter the French government sends a plane to transport him to France. It is important to note that as the word had gotten around that this had all been a scam perpetrated by the US and the Cuban exile no French official greeted him on his arrival. When he arrived the press and representatives of non governmental agencies were all left with their mouths wide open when they saw this political "martyr" walking down the ramp of the airplane without any assistance. The very next day Valladares was seeing walking through the streets of Paris in perfectly good health.
With all of this scam, nevertheless, the US Information Agency distributed Valladares biography in more than 30 countries, eventually giving him US citizenship.
What happened in some circles in Europe? Many politicians and human rights spokesman began to chastise him, among them a former ardent supporter, French writer Regis Debray, who in his book entitled Les Masques (The Masks) wrote, "the man was no poet, the poet was not a paraplegic and the Cuban is now a US citizen".
Currently Armando Valladares is not heard from very much as this fraud has caused him to be rejected in the international arena, specially after he became a salaried employee of the US government as he became a US representative of human rights.