Cuban Colada

Donations from U.S. can be tickets to jail

Pro-democracy groups and humanitarian organizations face danger distributing aid and material equipment in Cuba, where anything as benign as doling out church donations is illegal, writes Frances Robles in Friday's Miami Herald.
The clandestine voyages are carried out regularly by scores of travelers, armed with tourist visas and secret missions, who set out to dupe one of the best intelligence services in the world.
Experts tell Robles the missions are difficult, though not impossible. But the recent arrest in Havana of an American citizen for reportedly distributing communications devices puts agencies contracted by the U.S. government to promote democracy in Cuba under increased pressure to provide security training and illustrates the lengths the Cuban government is willing to go to stall the programs.
"When you send travelers to Cuba even to do good deeds, you are always scared for them,'' said Teo Babún, who runs ECHO Cuba, a religious organization. "They are walking into a country that has no diplomatic relations with the United States, where there is no embassy."
"Cuban state police are not as nimble as you think, but they are not stupid either. We made the mistake of being exactly where they expected us," said Jan Bubenik, a Czech activist arrested in Cuba in 2001 while on assignment for a U.S. organization.
"If you work for a human rights organization, it's naive to think [Cuban security agents] don't know who you are," said James Cason, former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. (PHOTO SHOWS Gen. Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, who, as Minister of the Interior, oversees the state security apparatus.)
For Robles' story, in full, click here.

Vietnam gives Cuban Customs new gear

A news item in Wednesday's Granma said that Nguyen Duong Thai, deputy director of the Vietnamese Customs Department, had donated to the Cuban Customs Administration 50 computers and 11 printers "to potentiate the computerized development of Cuban Customs, for the purpose of safeguarding the integrity and security of our borders."
In recognition of the gift, Gen. Pedro Ramón Pupo Pérez, the Cuban Customs chief, gave his Vietnamese counterpart a diploma.
Let's see if the donated equipment will detect the future introduction into Cuba of "cellphones, laptop computers and other communications equipment" similar to the ones that, according to the New York Times and other Washington sources, were being distributed to unidentified Cubans by an also unidentified American tourist, before his arrest on Dec. 5.
The man was later described as "a subcontractor" thrice or four-times removed from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), whose avowed goal is "to hasten the peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba."
How he managed to slip all that electronic equipment past Customs at the Havana airport is, as the song lyrics go, "a puzzlement."
As of early Wednesday, Dec. 16, no new developments on the matter had been reported from either Washington or Havana. To keep up with the news, read The Miami Herald. To catch up on Cuban Customs regulations, click here.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuban radio insists The Five are innocent; Assembly prexy calls new terms 'unfair'

Radio Habana on Tuesday gave a factual report of the sentence reduction given to Ramón Labañino in Miami, commenting that Labañino and four associates had been "unjustly imprisoned [...] for infiltrating the groups of the anti-Cuban mafia in Miami, responsible for dozens of terrorists acts against Cuba."
(For The Miami Herald's report on Labañino's resentencing, click here.)
As reported by The Herald's Jay Weaver, "Labañino was originally sentenced to life by U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard after his espionage conspiracy conviction in 2001. But an appellate court overturned her sentence because Labañino didn't actually gather and send any classified materials to his handlers in Havana."
"He who does not seek secret information is not a spy, and that's the first proof of the injustice committed," Radio Habana said, quoting National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcón.
"The fair thing to do is to release all [five] defendants, because they committed no crime," Radio Habana said. "They only warned Cuba about the terrorist danger."
[UPDATE: After Fernando González's sentence was reduced from 19 years to 17, Alarcón said on national TV that the new sentences were "unfair," the news agency EFE reported. The five agents "served longer than necessary, always within an unfair sentence, because they shouldn't have been imprisoned for one second," he said.
"Today was an important day, but it is not a reason for joy," Alarcón said. "We are not satisfied by these sentences." For more on his comments, click here.]

Greg Craig quits as White House counsel; spoke for Elián's father in custody tussle

White House counsel Greg Craig resigned Friday and was replaced by President Obama's personal lawyer, Bob Bauer.
McClatchy Newspapers pointed out that Craig "had been deeply involved in the planned shutdown of the prison for terrorism suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a process marked by delays." There is talk that Craig's failure to get the prison closed by the Jan. 22 deadline led the White House to ask for his resignation.
No doubt, some cheering will be heard in Little Havana. Craig represented Juan Miguel González, father of Elián González, in the tug-of-war for the boy's custody in 2000, which ended in Elián's return to Cuba.
Many in South Florida reviled Craig for allegedly acting on behalf of the Castro government, which supported Juan Miguel in the legal battle.
A CNN interview with Craig on April 22, 2000, the day Elián was removed from the home of his Miami relatives, will take you back to those troubled days. Click here. At left is a recent picture of the 15-year-old Elián.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro, with thanks to Lesley Clark.

Spanish detainee dealt in medical supplies

So who is this Spanish businessman Pedro Hermosilla who was released in Havana pending trial, in the wake of Miguel Ángel Moratinos' visit? The Spanish website americaeconomica.com gives us some details.
"Hermosilla is the representative in Cuba of the company AGEM and has spent two decades in Cuba," the publication says. AGEM – acronym for Auxiliar General de Electromedicina – sells supplies and equipment to the chemical, pharmaceutical and medical industries on the island. (PHOTO SHOWS its headquarters in Madrid.)
"Until his arrest [three weeks ago], he enjoyed a privileged status and operated in top-priority transactions such as the United Nations Development Program," the website says. "In some business circles, there is talk of the possibility that Hermosilla paid commissions to some high-ranking officials of the Cuban Ministry of Health and that the arrangement was unveiled during the [government's] drive against corruption."
Last year, AGEM did $1.5 million worth of business with Cuba and so far this year the figure was up to $600,000, the website says, citing official and unofficial sources.
Until his release, Hermosilla was held at the Villa Marista prison, on charges of bribery and violation of his contract with the Cuban state. Bribery is punishable with 1-to-15 years' imprisonment; contract violation, with 1-to-8 years.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Machado attends ALBA parley in Bolivia; so does Russia's Security Council chief

Cuba's First Vice President, José Ramón Machado Ventura, will substitute for Raúl Castro at the Seventh Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for Our America (ALBA) that begins today Friday (Oct. 16) in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Other participants are presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador, as well as prime ministers Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica), Ralph Gonsalves (St. Vincent & the Grenadines) and Baldwin Spencer (Antigua & Barbuda). (PHOTO ABOVE shows Machado, at right, and Morales.)
The overthrown Honduran administration of Manuel Zelaya will be represented by Patricia Rodas, Zelaya's foreign minister.
Although not a member of ALBA, Russia sent a group of observers led by Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev, head of the Russian Security Council and former chief of the Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the KGB. (PHOTO SHOWS him arriving in Cochabamba). "I came to listen," he told Bolivian journalists at the airport.
Patrushev was accompanied by a delegation of Russian businessmen who are participating in a trade conference parallel to the ALBA summit.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Granma: Sentence reduction is still 'unjust'

The revised prison sentence imposed on Antonio Guerrero by a Florida court – 21 years and 10 months – was not lenient enough for the Communist Party daily Granma. (See Miami Herald story here.) Originally, Guerrero had been sentenced to life plus 10 years.
Although the new sentence "is not as absurdly exaggerated as the previous one, it is still unjust," Granma says in an article taken from the antiterroristas.com website.
It is "one proof of many that confirm the absolute arbitrariness of the process followed against those who are imprisoned in the United States solely and exclusively for fighting against the anti-Cuban terrorism promoted by the American authorities."
The sentences imposed on the five Miami Cubans arrested in September 1998 on espionage-related charges reflected an "irrational disproportion" between crime and punishment, the newspaper said.
As of Wednesday morning, neither Fidel nor Raúl Castro had commented publicly on the news. Official reaction will likely come from Ricardo Alarcón, the National Assembly president, who has been the government's point man in advocacy for The Five Heroes, as they are known in Cuba. (The Miami Herald's Jay Weaver takes a close look at the judge's decision; click here.) (Guerrero will mark his 51st birthday on Oct. 16; click here.) 
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Author: Posada informed on Bosch, others

Luis Posada Carriles informed the CIA about the activities not only of Jorge Mas Canosa but also of fellow anti-Castroite Orlando Bosch, journalist Ann Louise Bardach tells in her new book, "Without Fidel."
News that Posada informed on his colleagues to the CIA in the 1960s surfaced this week, when the National Security Archive released CIA memos that say that, in June 1965, Mas Canosa had offered to provide explosives and demolition experts to blow up "a Soviet or Cuban vessel in Veracruz, Mexico."
(See our Oct. 6 blog item "National Security Archive releases new CIA-Posada docs.")
"On 25 June," the CIA documents say, Posada told the CIA "that he had received $5,000 from Mas Canosa [...] to cover the expenses of a demolition operation in Mexico."
In an e-mail Thursday to Cuban Colada, Bardach wrote that "an interesting complement to the NSA memo on Posada snitching on Mas Canosa is the fact that he also informed on Orlando Bosch, among others."
Bardach cited passages in her book (pp. 153-154) that quote a Posada associate, Joaquín Chaffardet, as saying that "Luis never trusted Bosch because he said there was nothing [Bosch] wouldn't do."
"According to Chaffardet, Posada often fretted that Bosch was dangerously out of control," Bardach wrote in her book. "So concerned, his friend said, that he alerted authorities in Caracas and in the U.S."
Chaffardet told Bardach that "he had 'no doubt' that Posada was the source of a chilling June 1976 CIA memo entitled 'Possible Plans of Cuban Exile Extremists to Blow Up a Cubana Airliner.'" The memo, which gave its source as a "usually reliable businessman," warned the agency that operatives led by Bosch "plan to place a bomb on a Cubana Airlines flight traveling between Panama and Havana."
"As it turned out, Posada had been providing information to the CIA and DISIP for years," the Bardach book said. DISIP is the acronym for Venezuela's Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services.
In her e-mail to Cuban Colada, Bardach wrote that "if the CIA or DISIP had listened to Posada, the Cubana Airlines bombing [Oct. 6, 1976] might not have happened." And she closed with an understatement: "It's a very curious matter and not a black-and-white deal."
To read the CIA memos, click here. For an Associated Press account of Posada's dual role, click here.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Rebuilding Cuban Army is a daunting task, assesses Russian report on general's visit

Russia will have a big job in its hands once it begins to rebuild Cuba's armed forces, the newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta pointed out Monday in an article titled "Cadres from Makarov: Russia will train Cuban Army officers." (For background, read previous blog items on the visit to Cuba of Gen. Nikolai Makarov.)
"After talks with Cuban leader Raúl Castro, [Makarov] announced two principal agreements: Cuban officers will again study at our military colleges and training centers, and Russian defense industry specialists will help Havana modernize its combat arsenal," the paper said.
Recalling that "the Soviet Union supplied Cuba with large quantities of equipment and armaments," the paper remarked that many of those units "are out of order and require repair and restoration. [...] The general did not conceal that we're talking about large-scale tasks," the article said. "The Cuban Army is large enough, with more than 550,000 servicemen and officers. On the basis of the number of weapons, it's on a par with the

leading countries of Latin America."
But Cuba's arsenal is of Soviet vintage and in disrepair. "For example, out of 150 fighters, two thirds of them are MiG-21s and MiG-23s. True, Cuba bought several MiG-29s from Russia but they don't spend much time on the airfield," the writer said, insinuating that they spend more time in the repair shop. "A similar situation afflicts the tanks, armored personnel carriers, antiaircraft-missile complexes and communications systems." (PHOTO SHOWS a MiG-21.)
Information appears to have leaked that Russia and Cuba "may establish joint ventures for the production of small arms and ammunition, and the repair and modernization of aircraft and armored vehicles, along the lines of what Russia already does in India and other countries."
As to the conditions of sale, "it is clear that the giveaways of supplies and manpower that were common in the middle of the last century are out of the question. On the other hand, [payment] terms for Havana can be made sufficiently soft. Russia is interested in a partnership with Cuba and for that reason will likely make some financial concessions."
"According to experts, [Raúl] Castro can reciprocate by allowing the pilots of our long-range aircraft to touch down in local military airfields and permitting Russian seamen to use Cuban ports to replenish their food and supplies," the paper said.
And referring to the official flag of the Russian Navy – a blue cross on a white field – the article ended by saying that "Makarov hinted that the Andreyev flag could fly permanently in the Caribbean basin."
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Committee to Free the Five to sue Radio Marti

The National Committee to the Free the Cuban Five says they are filing suit today in U.S. District Court in D.C. against the Broadcasting Board of Governors over the infamous journalists-for-hire scandal.

The Board “unlawfully failed to disclose specific U.S. government-paid contracts with journalists who published materials that were negative to Cuba and prejudicial to the case of the Cuban Five,” according to a press release.

According to the suit: "The public is entitled to know to what extent the U.S. government covertly paid journalists who wrote stories related to the case [of the Cuban 5] ... that were likely to reach and influence both the jury pool and the seated jury while the U.S. simultaneously carried out these prosecutions."

The committee filed a Freedom of Information Act request in January asking for details on the payments, but has not gotten any documents.

The suit stems from a 2006 Miami Herald report which showed that a number of local journalists, including several at El Nuevo Herald, worked part-time at Radio Marti while covering Cuban affairs and Cuba policy for their respective news outlets. The scandal ultimately led to Herald publisher Jesus Diaz’s downfall. The reporters who got fired here were hired back when it came out that the Herald editors actually did know about their part-time gigs, but … I don’t know, forgot?

The committee maintains that the five convicted Cuban agents were victims of a hostile press environment. And having reporters on the government dole didn’t help.

“Beginning soon after the arrest of the Cuban Five on September 12, 1998, and continuing through the trial, the Miami media played a major role in creating a hostile atmosphere in the city, through newspaper, television and radio.

It has since emerged that many of the journalists in Miami who claimed to be independent reporters were being paid by the United States government, through the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which oversee U.S.-sponsored Radio and TV Martí. The BBG is prohibited by law from funding domestic propaganda and attempting to influence U.S. opinion, yet has apparently been funding journalists who place stories in domestic media outlets.”
The group will formally announce the suit this afternoon.

Just curious: who’s paying them?

-Frances Robles