4 Linked to Castro Death Plot in Court

[dArKeR]

Four Cuban exiles accused of trying to assassinate Fidel Castro appeared in a Panamanian court Wednesday for the first day of a three-day preliminary hearing.

Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez, Guillermo Novo and Pedro Remon were arrested after the Cuban president denounced a plot to kill him during an Ibero-American summit that was held in Panama's capital in November 2000.

Local courts ruled there wasn't enough evidence to try the four Cuban exiles for attempted murder, but Panamanian authorities said the men had gathered explosives in the country.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20030904_7.html

Bush Crime Family

[Masking Tape]

1. If only they had succeeded, the world (and particularly Cuba) . . .

. . . would be a better place. Political prisoners in Cuba must pray everyday that this awful, evil man will be deposed.

[Say_What]

2. Calle Ocho speaks!!

Straight from Radio Mambi and the Gusanos sick, 40 year vendetta against the Cuban leader!! In order to get to him they insist on starving their poorer island cousins with a 40 year embargo. A sleazier bunch of neanderthals I have never met. :puke:

Viva Cuba!!

[Mika]

4. who would align themselves with the Al Queda of the Maimicuban "exiles"?

Those miamicubano "exile" terrorists are every bit as bad as Osama and Al Zwaheri.

:puke:

[Say_What]

8. Only in Miami: A day for a known terrorist, "Orlando Bosch Avila"

pardoned by Poppy Bush and hero to the neanderthal Gusanos. Loved so well they had bumper stickers to prove it--even when he was in jail in Venezuela for killing 73 passengers when him and Posada-Carriles bombed the Cubana airliner!! In an interview with the Miami New Times he denied part in the bombing but said, "There were no innocents on that plane."

[Judi Lynn]

13. Not only are they as murderous, as overfocused, as any Mid-east terrorists

they have the clout in Washington to engage U.S. protection for them, live as celebrities in Florida, and thumb their noses at our laws.

Luis Posada Carriles has also named the Cuban American National Foundation as providing his funding over the years, the C.A.N.F. being given tax-exempt status, and intimitely connected to many of our most seduceable politicians.

Anyone wanting Cuba to return to the pre-revolutionary status of Fulgencio Batista is a true adherent of a thoroughly corrupted, murderous banana republic, complete with death squads. Not worthy of notice for serious conversation.

[saskatoon]

38. Those miamicubano "exile" terrorists are every bit as bad as Osama and Al

You're so right. I live in Fl. and those bastards are running the state. Guess you all know that Jeb is up to hos eyebrows in really dirty deals with that bunch. IF you are not aware, google in Jeb Bush in Mother Jones. He had one deal going in Miami which used to be his old stomping grounds which rooked HUD (and taxpayers) out of close to one half million.

[Minstrel Boy]

6. Kiss my pink Canadian ass

[dax]

12. Interesting that you would call Castro "evil"-

Regardless of how you feel about public ownership of resources, it is hard to imagine how you figure Castro is "evil-the man rides around in an open jeep amongst the population-our pResident needs 2000 security guards and they burn flags all over the world everywhere he goes...Surely Bush and family is responsable for the deaths of far more innocent people and certainly the prisoners of Gitmo, many of whom are KIDNAPPED CHILD FIGHTERS, who havent been charged and have received no legal council pray for the death of the "evil man who put them there.....Obviously you are behind the curve of world opinion on this one-the rest of the world enjoys visits to Cuba while we Americans are prisoners of the exiles in Florida.

[Osolomia]

26. US Cuba policy is 10 YEARS behind the curve of world opinion

Today the United Nations General Assembly voted 179-3 to condemn the USA's embargo against Cuba and demand that it be lifted.

This is the 12th year in a row that the international community has done this!

The rest of the world also vehemently condemned the embargo when the USA passed the Helms-Burton act in 1996 but Americans weren't paying any attention then either.

In 1998 the Pope visited Cuiba and condemned the embargo and pleaded with y'all to open up and still Americans chose to ignore what was being said.

That's why things are the absurd mess they are to this day. It's never going to be resolved until Americans face up to reality and deal with it.

But when even our progressive democratic undergrounders and 2004 presidential candidates are more than 10 years behind the curve of world opinion to this day then there's not much reason for optimism sad to say.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi Masking Tape!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

28. I can't tell if you are being sarcstic or serious....

[durutti]

32. Oh Yes

Cuba was much better off when it was ruled by a brutal capitalist dictator who let people starve and die on the streets and the mob run rampant, in addition to imprisoning many prisoners of conscience.

[Mika]

3. They were going to put a bomb under the U of Panama stage to kill Castro

After their bomb materials and plans were found it was estimated that the collateral damage from blowing up the stage while Castro was at the podium would be hundreds dead including all on stage and thousands of attendees injured.

Google any of the names, Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jimenez, Guillermo Novo, and you'll get plenty of terra links.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

5. I think that brings the number of assassination attempts to about 200

Castro is not going that way, I'm afraid.

[Say_What]

7. Posada-Carriles, Jimenez, Novo, and Remon long histories of terrorism

Heros to the Gusanos, these creeps have very long and documented records of terrorism.

Guillermo Novo was found guilty of conspiracy to murder Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier, murder of a foreign official, two counts of first degree murder and murder by use of explosives.

Gaspar Jimenez was indicted for the 1976 bombing that destroyed the legs of Miami journalist Emilio Milian, but the U.S. Attorney dropped charges in 1983, citing a lack of evidence. In 1981 the United States deported him to Mexico, where he was imprisoned for involvement in the killing of a Cuban government official in Merida. He was released in 1983, after his sentence was reduced, and he returned to Miami.

Pedro Remon Omega 7 terrorist pleaded guilty to bombing Cuba's UN mission in 1979 and attempting to kill Cuban ambassador Raul Roa by rigging a bomb to his car in 1980 (the device fell off). An FBI investigation also implicated Remon in the machine-gun murder of Cuban
diplomat Felix Garcia Rodriguez in New York in 1980, but that charge was dropped.

Luis Posada Carriles--Along with his pal, Orlando Bosch Avila, the most infamous terrorist in the Western Hemisphere. Masterminded the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner that killed 73 people. He was twice acquitted of that action, but spent nine years in a Venezuelan prison before escaping, with the help of Otto REIGH in 1985.

Here's the expose that the NY Times did on CANF darling Posada Carriles.
<clips>

A Cuban exile who has waged a campaign of bombings and assassination attempts aimed at toppling Fidel Castro says that his efforts were supported financially for more than a decade by the Cuban-American leaders of one of America's most influential lobbying groups.

A BOMBER'S TALE

Taking Aim at Castro

The exile, Luis Posada Carriles, said he organized a wave of bombings in Cuba last year at hotels, restaurants and discothèques, killing an Italian tourist and alarming the Cuban Government. Posada was schooled in demolition and guerrilla warfare by the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960's.

In a series of tape-recorded interviews at a walled Caribbean compound, Posada said the hotel bombings and other operations had been supported by leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation. Its founder and head, Jorge Mas Canosa, who died last year, was embraced at the White House by Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

A powerful force in both Florida and national elections, and a prodigious campaign donor, Mas played a decisive role in persuading Clinton to change his mind and follow a course of sanctions and isolation against Castro's Cuba.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/americas/071298cuba-plot.html

[dax]

14. Sound like employees of the "Company to me...

"...was indicted for the 1976 bombing that destroyed the legs of Miami journalist Emilio Milian,( but the U.S. Attorney dropped charges in 1983, citing a lack of evidence.) In 1981 the United States deported him to Mexico, where he was imprisoned for involvement in the killing of a Cuban government official in Merida. He was released in 1983,( after his sentence was reduced,) and he returned to Miami. So just where ARE those other former employees-Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Pinochet, Noriega, Charles Walker,Shah of Iran, and the list goes on. At some point you have to connect the dots-Most of the propaganda you get to justify lynching alleged "Communist Dictators" is essential to making FASCISM ACCEPTABLE AS AN ALTERNATIVE Wake up and get to know where that COFFEE COMES FROM!

[Say_What]

15. Off the top of my head some who worked for the CIA include:

Felix Rodriguez--Che Guevara's assassin and pal to Poppy Bush (see photo below of them chillin' in the White House).

Jose Basulto--Head of Hermanos de Rescate known for setting up his compandres for the kill in 1986.

Jose Mas Canosa--Dead former head of CANF, the USA's resident terrorist organization

Luis Posada-Carriles--longtime CIA operative mentioned in this article

The list goes on....


<clips>

Cuban exiles, in pay of CIA, spied in U.S. for 10 years

Cuban exiles, paid and directed by agents of the Central Intelligence Agency, engaged over a 10-year period in a series of activities that, while related to foreign affairs, had clearly a domestic character, according to Cuban participants in these actions.

In Miami and elsewhere in the United States, a large group of exiles paid by the CIA were said to have watched over and compiled secret files on other Cubans and on Americans who associated with persons under surveillance.

Other refugees, while being paid by CIA agents, picketed foreign consulates in New York and Miami, and waged a boycott of products manufactured by countries that trade with the government of Premier Fidel Castro, the Cuban informants said. These activities reportedly took place roughly from 1960 to 1970.

Such operations reportedly directed by the intelligence agency were reportedly carried out with the knowledge and consent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under an interagency agreement worked out in the wake of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. They were conducted in an effort to deal with a special circumstance and apparently were unrelated to the kind of domestic CIA operations against dissidents that have recently come to light.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/belligerence/cia-spies.htm

[Judi Lynn]

17. So actually American taxpayers were paying some of these Cuban "exiles"

to spy and inform on OTHER Cuban "exiles" in the states, as well as any Americans close to them.

Some of them were doing exactly the same thing back in Cuba. I've heard many of them worked for Fulgencio Batista.

Here's another "exile" who worked for the C.I.A., Ricardo "Monkey" Morales, from Miami:

It is also a crime to cover up criminal acts, but there are innumerable examples of instances in which the CIA and the FBI conspired to interfere with the criminal prosecution of drug dealers, murderers, and assassins. In the death of Letellier, mentioned earlier, the FBI and the CIA refused to cooperate with the prosecution of the DINA agents who murdered Letellier (Dinges and Landau, 1980: 208-209). Those agencies were also involved in the cover-up of the criminal activities of a Cuban exile, Ricardo (Monkey) Morales. While an employee of the FBI and the CIA, Morales planted a bomb on an Air Cubana flight from Venezuela, which killed 73 people. The Miami police confirmed Morales’ claim that he was acting under orders from the CIA (Lernoux, 1984: 188). In fact, Morales, who was arrested for overseeing the shipment of 10 tons of marijuana, admitted to being a CIA contract agent who conducted murders, bombings, and assassinations. He was himself killed in a bar after he made public his work with the CIA and the FBI.
http://www.memresearch.org/econ/state-organized_crime.htm

More on Morales:
http://cuban-exile.com/doc_051-075/doc0051.htm
Interesting factoid: His ex-wife worked at the Miami Herald.

Oh, yeah. It looks like El Mono was one of the "grunts" who did a lot of the dirty work which was concocted by other, "higher-up" criminal "exiles" or CIA geniuses.

On edit:
I just remembered reading the first part of the trial happening BEFORE the link I posted above, and the government attorney questioning Morales had a hell of a time trying to get Morales to tell them his true address. I just read today, for the first time, in my first link in this post, that someone really caught up with him and murdered him. The impression left from what was said in the trial transcript preceding the link I posted was that he feared Orlando Bosch would have him killed. Really creepy.

[Say_What]

19. "killed in a bar after he made public his work with the CIA and the FBI'

why doesn't that surprise me. His testimony in that deposition gives an idea about what an arrogant pr*ck he was. Killed in a bar--no loss.

[Say_What]

9. The Assasination Geezers

Saul Landau, fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies who teaches at Cal Poly Pomona University details the terrorist acts and murders of Guillermo Novo. Saul also wrote the book, The Pre-Emptive Empire: A Guide to Bush's Kingdom

<clips>

Twenty two years ago, in the hallway of the Washington DC Federal Court Building, Guillermo Novo threatened me. So, when I read that on November 18, 2000 Panamanian cops had arrested him on an assassination charge, I felt the pleasant tingle of relief. Novo has reached the age--mid sixties--where his back goes out more than he does. Yet, instead of starting their own anti-Castro AARP chapter, he and three other rabidly Cuban geriatrics went to Panama to whack Cuba's president. The Cuban leader went to Panama for an Iberian Summit in the Fall of 2000 and Cuban security agents tipped off the Panamanians to search the car the group had rented. It contained 30 pounds of explosives and appropriate detonating material plus fingerprints that matched some of the defendants.

The four men (Guillermo, Luis Posada Carriles, Pedro Remon and Gaspar Jimenez) claim that Fidel had set them up for a frame. Their lawyers argued that the ever wily Fidel lured them to Panama because he knew that these old geezers shared common obsessions: they had all sworn to kill him and had participated in previous assassinations. They justified their lethal deeds as necessary steps in their holy war against the Caribbean demon.

Guillermo Novo reminds me of Jason or Freddy, except that his violence took place in real life and not in movies. I remember the cold chill of that morning in the courthouse hall in 1981. An appeals court had reversed on procedural grounds his conviction for eight counts of conspiracy to assassinate Orlando Letelier. At the new trial, the jury had just acquitted him and co-defendant Alvin Ross of conspiracy charges (Letelier, a former Ambassador and Cabinet Minister in the government of Salvador Allende, died along with Ronni Moffitt, his colleague at the Institute for Policy Studies, when a bomb planted under his car exploded on September 21, 1976).

The jury had also acquitted Ignacio Novo, Guillermo's younger brother, of aiding and abetting the conspiracy. The panel did convict Guillermo of lying to the grand jury about his knowledge of the murder plot. The judge ruled, however, that he had already served the time he would have been given.

http://www.counterpunch.org/landau09202003.html

[Judi Lynn]

11. Interesting point in that EXCELLENT article

they had all sworn to kill him and had participated in previous assassinations.

This is a great example of just what kind of murderous adventure stirs these losers to action:

The 1964 bazooka incident exemplifies Novo's character. According to the December 23, 1964 New York Times, Guillermo and Ignacio "bought the bazooka, a portable rocket launcher, for $35 in an Eighth Avenue shop and rebuilt it."

He waited for the time at which Cuba's Che Guevara was scheduled to address the UN General Assembly and then fired the shell "from the East River waterfront" in Long Island, facing the UN building across the river. The shell, said the Times "landed in the East River about 200 yards short of the 38-story United Nations Secretariat building, sending up a 15-foot geyser of water."

Guevara had been verbally attacking US policy when the incident took place. He laughed it off, saying "it gave added flavor to his speech." Investigators said the bazooka "had been elevated to about 20 degrees, so that the shell had traveled only about 800 yards. If it had been elevated at a higher angle, it could have carried as far as 1,300 yards, and shattered the glass and concrete facade of the United Nations building, causing many casualties among the 5,000 persons there at the time."

Once again, trying to kill a man giving a speech, a target bound to be standing absolutely still for a long period of time, as in "easy to hit," supposedly. (Oh, heck, screw the thousands of people in the audience, eh?)

These bloodthirsty ghouls have been highly celebrated among exiles for ages, not to mention OTHER exile criminals, like the Watergate burglars. One of their element, Orlando Bosch was seen at the house where Elián Gonzalez was being kept, which alerted the Justice Department that they needed to use real caution in extricating him from that home, as it seemed stupid risking the lives of U.S. gummint agents.

[Judi Lynn]

20. Here's a photo of Fidel Castro holding a photo of Novo

I was surprised to see it jump up in google.

I won't cut and paste any of the accompanying article, as I used the google crude translation, and the article gets mutilated in the effort, but still enough of what was written comes through to make it worth scanning:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.diariocolatino.com/internacionales/detalles.asp%3FNewsID%3D1075&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Guillermo%2BNovo%2522%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN

(From San Salvador)

[Say_What]

21. That's Posada-Carilles in the photo. Here's a Novo photo

from Rose-Hulman's Anti-Castro Guerrillas (1959-2003) page.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~delacova/belligerence.htm

If you look carefully, the photo is of Posada-Carilles, not Novo :-)

[Judi Lynn]

10. This trial was originally undertaken almost a year ago

The slimeball defendents' attorneys have been able to delay proceedings for ages.

Miami "exile" directed radio stations have been exhorting their loyal listeners to contribute money to the defense fund to protect these dredges for over a year.

I've heard, months ago, that the actual evidence is suddenly missing something critical, like fuse material, something physically small but essential, and that the defense attorneys are claiming there can be no assassination attempt without all the materials needed for bombs to have been confiscated. The missing items "issue" never came up originally, leaving people to understand that as the evidence sat in police custody for over a year, someone finally got through to tamper with it. Pathetic.

Reminds one of learning that either Luis Posada Carriles or Orlando Bosh Avila escaped from prison in Venezuela wearing a priests' uniform.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trial of rightwing Cuban-American operatives Luis Posada Carriles, Gaspar Jiménez, Pedro Remón and Guillermo Novo began on December 5 in the fifth criminal court in Panama City. The four are charged in connection to an alleged plot to bomb a hall at the University of Panama where Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz was to speak to students during a trip to Panama in November 2000 for the Ibero-American summit of heads of state. A charge of plotting to assassinate Castro was dropped this past summer; the four men are still charged with possessing 33 pounds of explosives and conspiracy to commit a crime. They claim they came to Panama to help Gen. Eduardo Delgado, head of Cuba’s Intelligence Division, to defect. Cuban-Panamanian César Matamoros and three Panamanians are also on trial on charges of covering up the plot.

Five hours into the preliminary hearing on December 5, Judge Enrique Paniza suspended the trial in order to allow the First High Court of Justice to finish hearing an appeal by lawyers for the complainants—Panamanian leftist student, labor and indigenous groups who could have been hurt in the bombing—seeking to reinstate the charge for attempted assassination of Castro.

http://www.americas.org/news/nir/20021215_anti_castro_trial_suspended.asp

[Minstrel Boy]

16. America is numb to the bloody harm done to it for 45 years by

turning such gangsters into foot soldiers of the national security apparatus.

God damn these murderous bastards to hell, and Viva Fidel.

:mad:

[Masking Tape]

22. Ashamed of the Left . . .

One of the problems that the Left has, and one reason I am ashamed to be a member of it, is that it often turns a blind eye to evil despots of the world who shroud themselves in our idealogy. The left turned a blind eye to Stalin, who was as bad as Hitler, it turned a blind eye to the Chinese Revolution, and it has a huge blind eye for Fidel Castro.

Cuba is not a free country. As much as I detest George Bush and the current climate in America, an action as simple as participating in this message board could get you arrested in Cuba. Cuba has wonderful health care, fine schools, and no freedom of expression.

You may be interested to know that Cubans can be jailed for being HIV positive. You may also be interested to know that Cuba prohibits free travel of citizens in their own country. The result is that "black" Cubans are kept separated from their "lighter" counterparts in a fashion that looks a lot like Johannasburg.

There's no doubt that some Cuban exiles are bad people. But that ignores the point that Castro is an evil despot.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

23. If he's not democratically elected, why are we bothering with him

Pretty simple fundamental, that.

Welcome to DU, Masking Tape.

[Mika]

25. Straight outta the CANF/ Alpha 66/ Commandos F-4 handbooks

".. an action as simple as participating in this message board could get you arrested in Cuba."

Bullshit. You simply have to show some link to prove that.



"Cuba has wonderful health care, fine schools, and no freedom of expression. "

Jeezuz, this 'argument' is so self contradicting. How the F do you think that they achieved the levels of health care and education that they have in Cuba? Do you think that it was forced on them by Castro? I think not. It is exactly the freedom of expression that Cubans have, and that includes professional educators and doctors of all branches of practice, that has enabled them to achieve the goals of the people of Cuba as expressed freely by them all.



"You may be interested to know that Cubans can be jailed for being HIV positive."


Just like the USA - as in; SOME people can be arrested and charged for deliberate or reckless infection of unaware partners who become infected.

Cuba has the lowest AIDS rate and levels in the west. Mainly due to their very effective AIDS awareness education programs, as well as the excellent treatment facilities and programs all over Cuba for HIV patients.

http://www.cbcfhealth.org/content/contentID/1537&relArticleDisplay=5

Cuba maintains the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Western Hemisphere -- 0.03% of the country's population is estimated to be HIV-positive, compared with 0.42% of the U.S. population

"You may also be interested to know that Cuba prohibits free travel of citizens in their own country. The result is that "black" Cubans are kept separated from their "lighter" counterparts in a fashion that looks a lot like Johannasburg."



Wow! Such amazing crap, it sickening. Obviously, you've never been to Cuba. I've never seen Cubans restricted from traveling anywhere by anything other than lack of funds or their jobs. Cuba is one of the most 'integrated' countries anywhere I've been. Weird, isn't it, that there aren't that many black "exiles" in Miami?.. quite the opposite as a matter of fact.




"But that ignores the point that Castro is an evil despot."


Aside from the fact that "Castro's Cuba" exhibits none of the hallmarks of a brutal dictatorship.. the "evil" part is a good 'argument'. :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

29. I haven't seen a post like that since right around the days of Elián

when the CANF didn't know yet what the real position is of the majority of Americans on Cuba.

CANF posters used to invade message boards, and go after posters hammer and tongs, vomiting up that bilge, day after day, week after week, month after month................

They don't know yet, apparently, that Cuba watchers are aware that the racial extremism among the Batistianos is unparalleled.

I posted an article on this message board in the last few months ago about a black youth and his Spanish friend from Cuba, who grew up living side by side, who moved to Miami, and went to live in totally different parts of town, while he learned his friend would NOT really be associating with him much in the future. The article pointed out that the Spanish Batista-forged Cubans in Miami are extremely racist, as the descendents of the landowners on a small island which was a totally slave-holding country for ages.

[Say_What]

33. Ashamed...poor baby. Here's the list of US Friendly Dictators now you'll

have a REAL reason to be ashamed. Your hero Batista is listed.

<clips>

America's Allies
THE FRIENDLY DICTATORS
Meet the Friendly Dictators - three dozen* of America's most embarrassing "friends", a cunning crew of tyrants and corrupt puppet-presidents who have been rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to U.S. interests.

Traditional Dictators seize control through force and often are self-styled "Generals." Constitutional Dictators hold office through voting fraud or severely restricted elections and are frequently mouthpieces for the military juntas which control the ballot boxes. Both types of dictators are covered here, along with a few tyrannical kings. but don't look for "enemy dictators" (communists and the like) in this set of cards. These are America's allies, strange and undemocratic as they may be.

Friendly Dictators often rise to power through bloody CIA-backed coups and rule by terror and torture. Their troops may receive training or advice from the CIA and other U.S. agencies. "Anti-communism" is their common battle cry and a common excuse for political repression. They are linked internationally through extreme right-wing groups such as the World Anti-Communist League (see card 17). Strong Nazi affiliations are typical - some have been known to dress in Nazi paraphemalia and quote from Mein Kampf, while others offer sanctuary for actual Nazi war criminals.

Friendly Dictators usually grow rich, while their countries' economies go down the drain. U.S. tax dollars and U.S. backed loans have made billionaires of some; others are international drug dealers who also collect CIA paychecks. Rarely are they called to account for their crimes.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Cards_Index.html

---

FULGENCIO BATISTA
President of Cuba
Cuban Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batiste, first seized power in a 1932 coup. He was FDR's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had overthrown strongman Gerardo Machado, "the Butcher". Batista ruled for several years, then left for Miami, returning in 1952 just in time for another coup, against elected president Carlos Prio Socorras. His new regime was recognized in a flash by President Eisenhower.

Under Batista, U.S. interests flourished and little was said about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky developed Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were bought and sold and military officials made huge sums on smuggling and vice rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where America's rich and famous clinked cocktails with mobsters.

As the gap between the rich and poor grew wider, the poor grew impatient. In 1953, Fidel Castro led an armed group of rebels in a failed uprising on the Moncada army barracks. Fidel temporarily fled the country and Batista struck back with a vengeance. Freedom of speech was curtailed and "subversive" teachers, lawyers and public officials were fired from their jobs. Death squads tortured and killed thousands of "communists." Batista was assisted in his crackdown by Lansky and other members of organized crime who believed Castro would jeopardize their gambling and drug trade. Despite this, Batista remained a friend to Eisenhower and the U.S. until he was finally overthrown by Castro in 1959.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Caribbean.html

[Judi Lynn]

34. Thanks for the info on Batista

All kinds of preposterous charges get thrown around by Miami gusanos and assorted other right-wing loons until someone simply takes the time to physically connect some legitimate information.

That kind of propaganda lives only as long as people remain uninformed. Once the truth of what was going on in Cuba to bring on the revolution gets stated, they have to resort to different tactics.

[Osolomia]

27. Americans are so brainwashed that they still can't figure out

what the rest of the world figured out over a decade ago and illustrated by today's vote against the embargo at the UN for the 12th year in a row.

It's revolting watching so many Democrats continue to pander to the extremist minority in Florida, particluarly the ones who want to be president.

As Canada's prime minister at the time Pierre Trudeau said when he visited Cuba with his wife and kids in 1975 that sparked the Canadian tourism boom to the island that's been going like gangbusters ever since no matter how much the USA tries to bully: Viva Cuba!

[Judi Lynn]

30. I've really enjoyed reading articles Canadians write on their Cuba trips

and can easily grasp they are not bomb-tossing radicals. Their articles are so helpful, and truly informative to Americans who are denied the right to travel to Cuba by the sickest element in the country.

Too bad. This only stimulates interest, I'm quite sure, in the Americans who are really aware of the "politics" and scheming involved to impose such an idiotic and offensive prohibition.

[Minstrel Boy]

31. Viva Fidel, and Viva Pierre

[Aidoneus]

24. Posada is finally going before a court?

good.. lock that arch-"terrorist" up for eternity.

[Vogon_Glory]

35. Hope These Guys Catch It In the Teeth

I hope these four guys get tried, found guilty, and imprisoned for a very long time. I, for one, am getting tired of this terrorism going unpunished.

I'm wondering if Fidel's opponents have thought what might have happened if these creeps' bomb had gone off. Dozens of bystanders would have been killed or maimed and hundreds of people would have been left without husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, etc.

I do not believe that the emans necessarily justify the ends--because the means form and shape the end results, no matter what the intentions of the initiator.

To attempt a Cuban regime change by blowing up Fidel Castro and dozens of innocents is hardly going to bring about a free, democratic Cuba that respects individual liberty or human life.

[Say_What]

36. Wouldn't care--they have never cared--they've murdered people for yrs.

I'm wondering if Fidel's opponents have thought what might have happened if these creeps' bomb had gone off. Dozens of bystanders would have been killed or maimed and hundreds of people would have been left without husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, etc.

Some information on who and what these cretins are:

<clips>

The Burden of a Violent History

... Phrases like "mob rule" evoke frightening images of violence, which in turn sends Miami's damage-control specialists rushing to the microphones and insisting to the world that the Cuban-exile community is peace-loving, law-abiding, and (with emphasis now) nonviolent. Miami Mayor Joe Carollo in particular has been tireless in promoting that message. "Miami has been a peaceful, nonviolent community," he stressed to CNN last week. The historical record, however, clearly contradicts those assertions.

Lawless violence and intimidation have been hallmarks of el exilio for more than 30 years. Given that fact, it's not only understandable many people would be deeply worried, it's prudent to be worried. Of course it goes without saying that the majority of Cuban Americans in Miami do not sanction violence, but its long tradition within the exile community cannot be ignored and cannot simply be wished away.

The following list of violent incidents I compiled from a variety of databases and news sources (a few come from personal experience). It is incomplete, especially in Miami's trademark category of bomb threats. Nor does it include dozens of acts of violence and murder committed by Cuban exiles in other U.S. cities and at least sixteen foreign countries. But completeness isn't the point. The point is to face the truth, no matter how difficult that may be. If Miami's Cuban exiles confront this shameful past -- and resolutely disavow it -- they will go a long way toward easing their neighbors' anxiety about a peaceful future.


http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-04-20/mullin.html

[Judi Lynn]

37. Grotesque people infesting Florida and New Jersey

since they fled Cuba during the 1960's.

WHO HAS NOT HEARD of Miami's being the murder capital of the country previously, the terror capital, the most violent city in the country, the most corrupt, etc., etc. since they arrived, as well as perennial "America's poorest city?" (This refers to large cities, over 500,000 population, as derived from the U.S. Census.)

My God! This man, also a Cuban "exile" dared to speak out against the filthy violence the rightwing "exiles" were implementing against ANYONE who didn't support their hate-filled actions:



Thank god he lived to go on for a few years, and NEVER backed down, he was NOT silenced by these monsters.

That is one great article, and if anyone doesn't imagine it's truthful, he/she can simply step over to google and spend MONTHS, or YEARS going through the artilcles on violence and corruption from this particular group in Florida, and THEN go on to study what was happening in Cuba BEFORE the revolution, when all the political dissenters were not only getting imprisoned, should they have lived, but also TORTURED, then MURDERED. There were also the roving death squads.

Ignorance is a gift to the right-wingers who hope the American public can be lead to support them. Jesse Helms and Dan Burton are two fast friends of the Miami Cuban exiles. Big celebrities. Not really good company for Democrats, after all.