From: Bill Koehnlein <nyms1-AT-blythe.org>
Subject: Exile Violence against Cuba
Date: Sun, 3 Mar 1996 18:05:25 -0500 (EST)



The Brecht Forum
122 West 27 Street, 10 floor
New York, New York 10001
(212) 242-4201
(212) 741-4563 (fax)
nyms1-AT-nyxfer.blythe.org (e-mail)


The following press release is from Cuba Update, 124 West 23
Street, New York, New York 10011. For more information, call
Sandra Levinson at (212) 242-0559.

*****

History of Exile Violence against Cuba a Factor in Downing of
Two "Brothers to the Rescue" Planes


U.S. official response to the downing of two "unarmed civilian
aircraft" by Cuban planes ignores the history of exile
incursions into cuban territory over the last thirty-seven
years. Secretary of State Warren Christopher called the Cuban
action a "violation of civilized behavior" and "totally
unjustified."

Cuban officials, however, may feel that their actions _are_
justified given the violent (perhaps equally "uncivilized")
behavior of Cuban exile terrorist organizations over the last
thirty-five years. Before rushing to condemn the Cuban
government action out of hand, U.S. policymakers might note
that our own government has taken almost no action against
Cuban exile terrorists who operate freely from U.S. territory
despite the fact that we condemn terrorism around the world.
Further, when Cuban defectors have hijacked planes and boats
and/or killed people in the process, we have refused to return
them to Cuba for prosecution and, in fact, have released them
with, at most, a gentle verbal slap.

Starting with the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, Florida-
based terrorist organizations have repeatedly invaded Cuban
territory--air space, waters, and land.

The most awful terrorist action occurred on October 6, 1976,
when a bomb planted aboard a Cubana Airlines plane exploded
after the passenger jet took off from Barbados, killing all
seventy-three people aboard--fifty-seven Cubans (including the
entire national fencing team), eleven Guyanese, and five North
Koreans. What happened in this worst-case example of Cuban
exile terrorism is evidence of how little the U.S. government
has been willing to do to prevent such actions.

On October 14, 1976 Cuban exiles Orlando Bosch (a former CIA
agent) and Luis Posada, along with two Venezuelans, were
arrested, charged with the bombing, and imprisoned in
Venezuela. They were acquitted in September 1980 because of
friendly ties to the Venezuelan government. Cuba protested,
saying that Venezuela knew they were "acquitting the guilty."
The prosecution appealed and in November 1981 the Venezuelan
government asked Cuba for further evidence against the four,
and Cuba complied in December. There were two more acquittals
of Bosch, the third on August 7, 1987. The prosecution did not
appeal, which meant Bosch was allowed to leave the country. He
arrived in Miami in February 1988 and was taken into custody
for a 1974 parole violation. (Bosch had been convicted of a
1968 bazooka attack on a Polish ship in Miami, and of sending
death threats to the heads of state of France, Italy, and
Spain because their governments trade with Cuba.) On June 23,
1989 the U.S. Justice Department ruled that Bosch should be
deported because of his record of terrorist activities,
including thirty acts of sabotage in the U.S., Cuba, Puerto
Rico, and Panama from 1961 to 1968, as well as the attempted
assassination of the Cuban ambassador to Argentina. In August,
the Cuban government requested that he be returned to Cuba.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who became the first Cuban American
elected to Congress, lauded Bosch as a hero during her
campaign (managed by Jeb Bush), and demanded his release. In
November 1989, a federal court upheld the deportation order,
but on July 17, 1990 the Justice Department reversed itself
and freed Bosch, evidently as a result of lobbying by
Republicans Ros-Lehtinen and Florida Senator Connie Mack, as
well as by Jeb Bush. Bosch agreed to fourteen conditions,
including the renunciation of terrorism and the wearing of a
monitoring device, but in a news conference following his
release, he called the deal with Justice "ridiculous" and "a
farce," saying, "They purchased the chain but they don't have
the monkey."

Exile terrorist actions over the years have included the
assassinations of Cuban Americans who supported dialogue
between Cuba and the U.S., including Eulalio Jose Negrin in
New Jersey in November 1979, and Carlos Muniz Varela in Puerto
Rico in April 1989. One act of terrorism struck home: the
March 1973 bombing of the Center for Cuban Studies offices in
New York City while its director was inside. In June 1990, the
Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami was bombed simply
for exhibiting art by Cubans still living in Cuba! Other
recently examples include:

December 20, 1991: Three members of "Comandos L," a terrorist
organization of Cuban exiles, are captured in Cuba after
landing their boat carrying weapons. This is one of dozens of
raids against Cuba by Comandos L since its founding in 1962.

July 4, 1992: Without asking Cuba's permission, the U.S. Coast
Guard enters Cuban waters to rescue members of Comandos L
after their heavily-armed boat malfunctions during one of
their secret missions.

October 7, 1992: From an offshore speedboat, a group from
Comandos L fires shots at the Hotel Melia on Varadero Beach.
When Cuba formally protests to the State Department, the
protest is referred to the Justice Department, which in turn
asks the FBI to investigate. Cuban officials present to the
chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana two volumes of
evidence, including eyewitness accounts, photographs, and
bullets taken from Hotel Melia. Comandos L carries out at
least eight raids against Cuba in 1992.

December 29, 1992: Cuban pilot Carlos Cancio Porcel and
several other people with their families hijack a Cuban
airliner to Miami, chloroforming a security guard and tying up
the co-pilot. Cancio is detained but released when the U.S.
Justice Department rules that his action did not constitute a
hijacking.

January 7, 1993: At a news conference, Tony Bryant, leader of
Comandos L, announces plans for more raids against targets in
Cuba, especially hotels. Warning tourists to stay off the
island, he declared, "From this point on, we're at war,"
adding, "The Neutrality Act doesn't exist."

January 7, 1993: A group of Cubans hijacks a fishing boat to
Florida after tying up the boat's captain. The U.S. Attorney's
office decides that there is "no basis for prosecution."

October 1993: According to the Associated Press, Andres
Nazario Sargen, head of Alpha 66, boasts that Alpha 66 has
staged five recent missions inside Cuba. He adds that Tony
Bryant, chief of Comandos L is "learning where every general
lives" in Cuba and "they will be targeted to be eliminated."

July 13, 1995: In Cuban waters, several boats organized by
Brothers to the Rescue turn around and return to Florida after
one of the boats collides with a Cuban Border Patrol vessel.
Cuba says that eleven boats, six small planes, and two
helicopters have penetrated Cuba's water and air space. One
airplane flew over the coastal zone of Havana, and dropped
leaflets over Havana urging protests against the Castro
government. Cuban officials warn that any aircraft which
violates Cuban airspace risks being shot down. When Brothers
to the Rescue attempts another such voyage on September 2,
they turn back after one boat sinks ten miles off Key West,
dumping forty-seven people into rough seas and causing one
death. The U.S. Coast Guard comes to their rescue.

January 13, 1996: Brothers to the Rescue again drops thousands
of leaflets with anti-government slogans over Havana.
According to AP, the Federal Aviation Administration is
investigating Jose Basulto, head of the organization and a
veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, for violating Cuban
airspace in this incident and in the July 1995 incident. The
case is still pending.

February 24, 1996: Brothers to the Rescue files flight plans
for the Bahamas, but three planes enter Cuban airspace. Cuban
planes down two of the three planes; the third, piloted by
Basulto, returns to Florida. Basulto says that his planes did
not violate Cuban air space. Cuban authorities say the planes
violated Cuban air space (twelve miles) over Cuban waters at
distances of between five and eight miles north of Baracoa
beach west of Havana. U.S. authorities say that the exile
organization's planes violated Cuban air space, but that only
Basulto was still in Cuban air space when the other two planes
were shot down in international waters.

February 25, 1996: A Cuban Foreign Ministry statement stresses
that the planes were warned: "At 1:21 pm when they came toward
Cuba again, one of those responsible for these incursions was
warned by the Havana Air Traffic Control Center that air zones
north of our capital were active and of the risk they were
putting themselves in by penetrating them, to which he
answered that it was clear he could not violate the zone but
that he was doing it." The Ministry statement also said that
the United States government "has disapproved of the
intentions and acts of the terrorist bands headquartered in
Miami and has warned publicly on various occasions that if
such acts against Cuba continue, North American authorities
can't interfere with methods taken by the Cuban government to
guarantee sovereignty of the nation....Our government laments
that there may have been human loss motivated by irresponsible
and criminal aggressions against our country."

Given this history, it would be especially unfortunate if
official U.S. response is to close off the small channels of
communication that currently exist between the U.S. and Cuba--
rumors of "prompt and appropriate" responses have included
terminating commercial flights between the U.S. and Cuba (the
charters from Miami), cutting off money transfers and the
recently-restored telephone service. Such action would punish
Cuban Americans, who are the most frequent users of these
services, more than anyone else.


Historical chronology information is from Jane Franklin,
author of _The Cuban Revolution and the United States: A
Chronological History_ (Ocean Press/Center for Cuban Studies,
1992).

//30


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