"In an exceptional series last week, The New York Times profiled the notorious Luis Posada Carriles, a 70-year-old-Cuban exile who for decades prosecuted his own war of bombings and assassination attempts against Cuba and Fidel Castro. The Times pieces, written by Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter, were based on interviews conducted with Posada somewhere in the Caribbean. Posada's murderous antics have long been known.In the 1960's, he was a recruit for the CIA's absurd assault on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. From 1976 to 1985, he was imprisoned in Venezuela after having been arrested for arranging the in-flight bombing of a Cubana jetliner carrying 73 people. After escaping jail, the fugitive found work in Oliver North's covert Contra supply operation. More recently, last year, Posada waged a series of bombings in Cuba at hotels, restaurants and discos. One blast killed an Italian tourist.
It was not shocking that Posada expressed no regrets over the death of the Italian. But what was surprising was his acknowledgment that his terrorism had been underwritten by the leaders of the Cuban-American National Foundation. This outfit is the primary lobby of anti-Castro Cubans. For years it has maintained a stranglehold on U.S. policy toward Cuba, blocking moves to relax relations with Havana. Its longtime jefe, Jorge Mas Canosa, who died last year, was chummy with the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Posada estimated that Mas Canosa through the years sent him $200,000 to support his terrorist activity. At the same time, the Mas Canosa gang gave bundles of money to politicians of both parties.
In the last election cycle, the Free Cuba Political Action Committee, which is closely allied with the foundation, dished out $136,500 to Democrats and Republicans. In the past year and a half, it funneled $39,500 to House and Senate members. The spigot is likely to open much wider in the coming months, as the election elections approach.
Favored candidates have included Sens. Jesse Helms ($10,000), Bob Torricelli ($10,000), Judd Gregg ($10,000), Bob Graham ($5,000) and Al D'Amato ($5,000) and Reps. Benjamin Gilman ($7,750), Robert Menendez ($8,000), Patrick Kennedy ($3,000) and Dan Burton ($4,000). These figures, by the way, do not include the donations made by individuals affiliated with the foundation and the Free Cuba PAC. A National Journal story in 1993 noted that the PAC handed out more than $670,000 to congressional candidates in the previous decade."
and there's more...
"...But only luck put the current wave of anti-Castro terrorism into focus. The federal criminal investigation started last Oct. 27 when a Miami-based cabin cruiser, named "La Esperanza," was foundering off Puerto Rico and radioed for help. The Coast Guard responded and escorted the yacht to safety.
The Coast Guard grew suspicious because the four Cuban exiles on board insisted they were on a fishing trip, although the fishing gear was still in plastic wrap. They also claimed they had sailed the 900 miles from Miami in a single day, an impossible trip.
Suspecting drug smuggling, federal authorities searched the yacht. Under a loose plank, they found a hidden compartment containing a cache of military supplies: ammunition, fatigues, night-vision goggles, sophisticated communications gear, tripods and two .50-caliber semi-automatic rifles capable of firing flat-trajectory bullets one mile.
According to a U.S. Custom investigator, crew member Angel Alfonso Aleman blurted out that the weapons were his and that they were intended for Castro's assassination. The crewman later denied making the confession, but the yacht's navigational coordinates were set for Margarita Island near Venezuela, where Castro was expected for a summit of Latin American leaders.
The political sensitivity of the case escalated when authorities discovered that one of the rifles belonged to CANF president Francisco Hernandez. "La Esperanza" was owned by Jose Antonio Llama, a Bay of Pigs veteran who sits on the CANF Executive Committee.
...
After the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Mas saw a new opening for his political ambitions. With White House blessing, Mas launched the Cuban-American National Foundation as a political force to support aggressive anti-Castro legislation and policies. Mas rapidly emerged as the Cuban exile to see in the hotbed of Miami politics, a kind of modern caudillo.
The Reagan administration collaborated with Mas despite his strong authoritarian streak. "He would lash out at anyone who appeared soft on Castro," observed Alvin A. Snyder, who was a senior USIA official in the 1980s. Mas demonstrated his clout when the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami auctioned works by some Cuban artists who were selected by museum director Ramon Cernuda for their talent, not their political views.
"Jorge Mas saw this as subversive behavior and publicly threatened to use his Washington connections to have Cernuda 'investigated'," Snyder wrote in his book, Warriors of Disinformation. "Customs officials raided Cernuda's home and office and seized some 200 paintings whose importation they claimed had violated the trade embargo against Cuba."
Through a variety of projects, the Reagan-Bush administration funnelled millions of dollars to CANF. One of the biggest boondoggles was a $20
million-plus-a-year scheme to beam U.S. propaganda -- as well as TV programs such as "Alf" and "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" -- to the people of Cuba. Called TV Marti, the project never succeeded in breaking through simple Cuban jamming procedures, but continued because few Washington politicians dared to challenge Mas's political clout.
Politically savvy, Mas also understood the need to feather both the Republican and Democratic sides of his Washington nest. In 1992, when Bill Clinton emerged as a likely winner against George Bush, Mas raised $300,000 for the Democratic contender at a single lunch."
and more...
"The campaign of attacks in which Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon played a part was "meticulously organized in Miami" by the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), the most powerful of the exile political organizations. Also implicated are the paramilitary group Alpha 66 and "followers" of Orlando Bosch, a notoriously violent anti-Castro exile who is widely believed to have been responsible for destroying a Cuban airliner in flight in 1976 and now lives in Miami."
As the UN records say;
"I felt it was necessary to read a large number of paragraphs from The New York Times even if they do not go to the source of this story nor fill up major gaps. But, they may give coherence and offer valuable elements to reconstruct Posada Carriles's life and work and his close and uninterrupted relationship with the CIA, the Cuban-American National Foundation and the highest political authorities in the United States."
So there you are, Frenchy.
Not only are your sources implicated in terrorism up to the highest level, they even funded Clinton!
Who's going to be the next nutcase you try to cherrypick your ideas from?
"We must defend ourselves against the next generation of terrorist!" - said King Herod, defending his strict new post-natal policy - "they pose a potential threat to some of the most respected and morally influential people in our society today"...
Farinata.
(This is just too easy; whenever Frenchy grabs an article to use as his guiding light he does so with no apparent inquiry into that source's motives...)
None.
