News - 09-01-06
CASTRO AND CUBA
Castro isn’t coming back. His brother Ral, now the successor in Cuba, became an executioner when
the revolution took over in 1959. He is chief of the military, the departments of the interior—including the
secret police—and the manager of the highly effective espionage service, although Fidel is believed
to have a hand in planning covert activities. Since the turn-over, Ral has added the operations of the
Communist Party of Cuba (he was an early recruit) to his list of offices. Old Castro political devotee
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is keeping Cuba afloat with cheap oil, but the two freeze-dried
socialists are unsuccessful so far in influencing the rightward political trend in Latin American nations.
Ral is well known to be an un-recovered alcoholic rarely seen in public. Some experts hold out
hope that he will soften the grip of tyranny on the Cuban people because he allegedly cares about his
family—at least in public. More realistic analysts predict that Cuba under Ral will be an even
more repressive regime, leaving only repression where once the revolutionary rhetoric from Fidel diverted
the pain of the Cuban people.
If you attended the Fourth Annual Raleigh International Spy Conference Aug. 23-25, presented by
Metro Magazine, in partnership with the North Carolina Museum of History, you knew this already from
the keynote session delivered by Brain Latell, former National Intelligence Officer for Latin
America and author of the timely new book: After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro’s Regime
and Cuba’s Next Leader.
Latell played psychic tag with Fidel for two decades. Cuban agents followed the CIA officer and
attended classes he taught at Georgetown University, passing on opinions and information to Fidel,
who would include responses to Latell in his speeches.
Art Padilla, professor of management at NC State University—and an expert in leadership
styles—made it clear Castro is a “destructive” dictator who worshipped Mussolini
and obscured his troubled legitimacy with his peculiar and paranoid personality. Don Bohning,
former Latin American bureau chief for The Miami Herald (and author of The Castro Obsession:
US Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959-1965) explained how this paranoia developed during the
series of covert and overt operations by the US to oust Fidel, beginning with the failed Bay of
Pigs invasion, through CIA’s Operation Mongoose—that included bizarre plans to
assassinate Fidel—to the modern era of embargoes, radio broadcasts and efforts to organize
Cubans to overthrow the regime.
University of Virginia scholar Tim Naftali, author of books on the Cuban Missile Crisis
and counter-terrorism in the modern age (and recently appointed director of the Nixon Library
in Yorba Linda, CA) had access to secret KGB files from the Havana rezidentura. At the Raleigh
conference, he divulged information from his upcoming biography of Khrushchev, including the
revelation that Castro did not ask for nuclear missiles for Cuba. It is now known that the
Soviets were concerned about loss of face in Berlin and Laos. They wanted missiles in Cuba
as a show of strength in the geo-political battle of gamesmanship that dominated the Cold War era.
Gene Poteat, former scientific and technology officer for the CIA, was on the ground during
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Drawing on recently declassified data, he related the events that
conspired to bring the super powers the closest ever to nuclear war in the waters off
Cuba—with the US going to Def Com 2, the last stage of readiness before launching
nuclear weapons. The Soviet submarines sent to Cuba during the face-off of the great powers
were ill-equipped and their commanders not told the mission. It was a chilling moment when US
warship officers ordered the Soviet subs to surface 90 degrees East or be shot out of the
water, not knowing the U-boat torpedoes were nuclear-tipped, each capable of annihilating
an area 30 miles wide.
Poteat represents a prevalent view in the CIA that the promise by President John F.
Kennedy not to invade or interfere in Cuba as part of the bargain to force the Soviets
to remove the missiles was unnecessary, resulting in the nearly intolerable situation
that allowed Castro to operate a communistic dictatorship only 90 miles away from US
territory. Poteat also dropped a bomb shell. During the Missile Crisis, the US developed
false electrical signals that make an enemy think he is being attacked. In 1964, while the
Cuban crisis was still a hot issue, President Lyndon Johnson dispatched B-52 bombers to
Haiphong, officially launching the Vietnam War, using as justification an attack on two
US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. According to new information and Poteat’s research,
there was no attack. The ships were bombarded with false electrical charges designed to
simulate an attack.
Humberto Fontova says it like it is about Castro and Cuba. Why, the historian
and writer wants to know, do certain American celebrities—most notably in
Hollywood–admire Fidel? In his book (Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant),
Fontova doesn’t get why a regime that does not allow political parties, religious
opportunity, free speech, freedom of movement—that controls all media, employs a
sinister network of families spying on each other and rounds up and imprisons and
executes dissidents—is worshipped by these famous people. The truth needed to be
aired and Fontova took no prisoners. And one prisoner of Castro spoke up. Andres
Gonzalez, now in his late 20s, was born in Cuba blind at birth. He was picked up and held
in isolation for three days and coerced to leave Cuba. To ensure he would not criticize
the regime, his wife was held hostage under house arrest for three years, terrified
every moment. Gonzalez and his family live in Raleigh now, living testimonials to Fontova’s thesis.
The timing and quality of speakers at the Raleigh Spy Conference convinced C-SPAN to
film the entire event. As soon as air dates are available, they will be posted on
www.raleighspyconference.com.
Notes from La-La Land
Now that the Triangle Transit Authority has let go of its unwise scheme to force rail
transit on the Triangle region, it is time to create an entity to examine the issue from
the Raleigh-outward point of reference. Elevated monorails are the way to go. They offer
a sense of occasion and offer an alternative—not a mandate—for public transportation.
•••
So the New York Times has examined 18,000 pages of documents and discovered perhaps
one opinion from arresting officers that indicates escalated “trauma” on the
alleged victim’s body. This report was added at a later date. But what is really
being added is the role of the newspaper on the side of the “victim.” Like the
other activists in this case, who have held sway over Durham County District Attorney Mike
Nifong, the paper wants to stir up race and gender politics.
•••
Gannet, the newspaper chain that publishes USA Today, has purchased the college paper
at Florida State University. With so few readers under 50, their answer is to take the
mountain to Mohammed.