Cuba’s Continuous Support for Terrorism

Cuba's Continuous Support for Terrorism
[05-03-2015 07:29:38]
Jaime Suchlicki
Director del Instituto de Estudios Cubanos y Cubano-Americanos de la
Universidad de Miami

(www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- Iran, Cuba and Venezuela have developed a
close and cooperative relationship against the U.S. and in support of
terrorist groups and states. The three regimes increasingly coordinate
their policies and resources in a three way partnership aimed at
counteracting and circumventing U.S. policies in the Middle East and
Latin America. Within this relationship, Cuba plays a strategic role in
terms of geography (proximity to the U.S.), intelligence gathering (both
electronic eavesdropping and human espionage) and logistics.
In addition to its proven technical prowess to interfere and intercept
U.S. telecommunications, Cuba has deployed around the world a highly
effective human intelligence network. The type of espionage carried out
by Ana Belén Montes, the senior U.S. defense intelligence analyst who
spied for Cuba during some 16 years until her arrest in 2001, has
enabled the Castro regime to amass a wealth of intelligence on U.S.
vulnerabilities as well as a keen understanding of the inner-workings of
the U.S. security system.

Such information and analysis was provided to Saddam Hussein prior to
the U.S. invasion of Iraq and is being provided to a strategic ally like
Iran. While one may argue that factors such as Iran's limited military
capabilities and sheer distance diminish any conventional concerns, one
should expect that Tehran, in case of a U.S.-Iran conflict would launch
an asymmetrical offensive against the U.S. and its European allies
through surrogate terrorist states and paramilitary organizations. In
such a scenario, Cuban intelligence would be invaluable to Iran and its
proxies and Cuban territory could be used by terrorist groups to launch
operations against the U.S.

In specific terms Cuba has not abandoned its support for terrorist
groups and states:

Cuba directly and through Venezuela continues to provide intelligence to
Hamas and Hezbollah.
Two Arab shiites, Ghazi Nasr Al din and Fawzi Kanaan have set-up shop in
Caracas, Venezuela under the protection of the Venezuelan government.
Working in coordination with the Cuban government, both are active in
promoting Hezbollah and Iranian targets in South America and against the
U.S. They fundraise for Hezbollah, facilitate travel for Hezbollah
activists to Venezuela and through Venezuela to other countries. This is
all part of the strategic alliance between Venezuela, Cuba and Iran.

Cuban military officers are acting as liaison between Venezuelan
military and the narco-guerrillas of the Colombian FARC. Cuban General
Leonardo Ramon Andollo, Chief of Operations of the Cuban MINFAR
(Ministry of the Armed Forces), has visited Venezuela and acted as a go
between the Cuban and Venezuelan military involved in drug trafficking. (1)

Current and former members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), a
Basque terrorist organization continue to reside in Cuba. While some of
these terrorists are on the island as part of an accord between the
Cuban and Spanish governments, others are hiding in Cuba, fugitives of
Spanish justice. In February 2015, the Spanish government requested one
more time the extradition from Cuba of two ETA terrorists, Jose Angel
Urtiaga Martinez and Jose Ignacio Etxarte Urbieta. The two have lived in
Cuba since the 1980s and are wanted by Spanish Justice. In addition to
these two there are four other ETA members living in Cuba: two with the
knowledge of the Spanish government and two, Miguel Angel Apalategui
"Apala" and Joseba Sarrionandia, without Cuba admitting that they are in
the island.

The FBI estimates that Cuba has provided safe harbor to dozens of
fugitives from U.S. justice who live on the island under the protection
of the Castro regime. Some of these fugitives are charged with or have
been convicted of murder, kidnapping, and hijacking, and they include
notorious killers of police officers in New Jersey and New Mexico, most
prominent among them Joanne Chesimard, placed by the FBI in 2013 on the
"Most Wanted Terrorist List." The FBI is offering one million dollars
for information leading to her apprehension.

Other terrorists fugitive of the U.S. living in Cuba include Ishmael
LaBeet, one of the five men convicted of the infamous Fountain Valley
Massacre, a racially tinged 1972 armed robbery in the Virgin Islands
that turned into mass murder, with eight dead. William Morales, the
master bomb-maker of the Puerto Rican separatist group FALN, which set
off 140 or so blasts around the United States during the 1970s and
1980s, killing at least six people. Victor Gerena, an armed robber
working for another Puerto Rican separatist group, who is believed to
have taken the proceeds of a $7 million heist to Cuba with him. Charles
Hill who in 1971 hijacked a civilian plane carrying 49 passengers and
fled to Cuba. Hill is also wanted for the 1971 murder of New Mexico
State Police officer Robert Rosenbloom. Frank Terpil, a former CIA
officer and convicted arms trafficker who is wanted for providing more
than 20 tons of plastic explosives to the late Libyan dictator Muammar
Gaddafi.

In mid-2013, the Castro regime was caught smuggling weapons out of Cuba
on a North Korean vessel in violation of UN sanctions. Cuba lied to the
international community about the content of the vessel. The official UN
Report on "Cuba-North Korea Illegal Weapons Trafficking," published in
March 2014, revealed "a comprehensive, planned strategy to conceal the
existence and nature of the cargo." The Report concluded, contrary to
Cuba's allegations, that "some, if not all, of the consignment was not
expected to be returned to Cuba."

In 2014 former Cuban intelligence official, Uberto Mario, described how
the Castro regime is training Venezuelan "Tupamaros," pro-Maduro groups
who violently attack Venezuelan students.
Managed by Cubans and Venezuelans sympathetic to Cuba, Venezuela's
immigration system, "Misión Identidad," facilitates the entry of Cuban
agents into Venezuela. Cubans also control SAIME (Servicio de
Identificacion, Migracion y Extranjeria, Caracas) which facilitates the
travel of drug organizations, Colombian guerrillas, and Islamist
terrorists. Cuba also has on the island duplicate Venezuelan forms and
stamps to issue passports and identifications to these groups.

Warranting special mention are the outstanding U.S. indictments against
Cuban Air Force pilots Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Francisco Perez
Perez and General Rubén Martínez Puente, the head of the Cuban Air
Force, who in 1996 shot down two unarmed civilian American aircraft over
international waters in the Florida Straits. That act of terrorism,
ordered by Fidel and Raul Castro, killed four men, three of them
American citizens. The Castro brothers personally accepted
responsibility for the shot-down.

In 2014 the Castro government decreed that it would now begin to freeze
bank assets affiliated to Al-Qaeda in Cuba. The Castro regime thus
tacitly admitted that they had been facilitating financing of terrorism.

"Hezbollah in Cuba," the Hamas-funded Turkish "charity" known as IHH
continues to operate in Havana. IHH is a member of the "Union of Good,"
an umbrella organization that financially supports Hamas.

Iran's President has emphasized that "the Islamic Republic of Iran and
Cuba can play a significant role in international organizations. Tehran
and Havana share common viewpoints in major international issues."

In 2014 Cuban First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade described Iran as a
"strategic partner" of Cuba.
On November 13, 2013 "Prensa Islamica" published an article on Cuba-Iran
growing relationship. The article explains that Cuba has shared with
Iran its "vast knowledge on intelligence" and has discussed cooperation
"on electromagnetic weapons capable of sabotaging enemy communications."

In an attempt to obtain unilateral concession from the U.S., Gen. Raul
Castro's regime has toned down some of the violent anti-U.S. propaganda
of older brother Fidel. Yet his commitments to and interrelationships
with anti-American terrorist groups have not disappeared. They have
taken a more sophisticated approach; many times using proxies such as
Venezuelan supporters.

_________________________________________________

Notes

(1) See Pedro Roig, "Venezuela-Cuba Military Cooperation and the
Narco-Terrorsit Connection." Cuba Focus. Institute for Cuban &
Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. March 18, 2014.

_________________________________________________

**Foreign intelligence services have provided information for this report.

Source: Cuba's Continuous Support for Terrorism - Misceláneas de Cuba -
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/Article/Index/54f7f7d23a682e0f0090855a#.VPgurfnF9HE