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What
Were They Protecting Us From?
BY Simon
Wollers
 In
1996 Noam Chomsky remarked that "Cuba was the
target of more international terrorism than probably
the rest of the world combined". The following
list published in the web site antiterroristas.cu is
just a part of the terrorism directed against Cuba
over the last 40 years. It is lengthy, but key to
understanding why Cuba feels the need to send people
like René, Gerardo, Fernando, Antonio and Ramón to
protect itself from such attacks.
From
the outset of the Revolution, barely days after
Washington recognized the new government of Fidel
Castro in January of 1959, the CIA began a campaign
to overthrow Cuba's new leader.
It is
a campaign that has lasted through today, and is
replete with anecdotes and tragedy.
From
as early as March 10, 1959 the US National Security
Council met in secret to discuss ways to replace the
new Cuban government by any means necessary.
In
August two Cuban planes were destroyed in Miami in
an attack against air travel to Cuba.
Fortunately,
no one was hurt. A small plane that originated in
the US was intercepted by Cuban authorities with a
US citizen on board intending to assassinate Fidel
Castro. In October, the first of a wave of attacks
on sugar mills by planes flying in from the US
began; a plane from Miami bombed Havana; and a train
was machine-gunned in Las Villas -- again from a
light aircraft that had originated in the United
States. All this happened in the first year of the
Revolution. The message from Washington was clear
and Cuban lives had already been lost in the
process.
The
following year, 1960, the French ship, Le Coubre,
carrying a Belgian cargo, blew up in Havana's harbor
killing some 100 sailors and dock workers. In March,
US President Eisenhower ordered CIA director Allen
Dulles to organize and train Cuban exiles for an
invasion of Cuba.
By
August the CIA was recruiting members of US
organized crime - including Santos Traficante and
Sam Giancana - to assassinate Fidel Castro who was
then Prime Minister. The FBI under Hoover was fully
aware of the plots and provided logistic support.
The assassination attempts were later published in a
damning report by the House Select Committee on
Assassinations in the late seventies.
By the
end of 1960, 17 former Cuban police/army members
under the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship were
arrested for throwing sticks of dynamite into stores
and theaters, and the year was seen out with a fire
that destroyed a famous Havana department store --
all done with money and support from terrorist
groups operating openly in Florida as they do to
this day.
By
then Cuba had obviously got the message and was
aware of the plans to invade the island.
However,
although the island presented ample evidence of
Washington's intention to the United Nations, the
General Assembly rejected a debate on the issue.
Clearly Cuba was on its own. The year 1961 brought
on further bombings, as well as the despicable
torture killings of a number of 17- and 18-year-olds
who were teaching farmers in the provinces how to
read. They were murdered by groups funded by the CIA
in an attempt to destabilize the government in
Havana and destroy a massive literacy campaign
underway across the nation.
By
April, after the fatal blowing up of another Havana
department store, the pending invasion was obvious
to Cuban authorities. It began on April 15, with
B-26 bombers attacking the island's defenses,
killing a number of civilians. Two days later the
Bay of Pigs invasion began. Cuba defeated the US
backed forces with the loss of yet more Cuban life:
176 people.
The
attacks, the bombings, the assassination attempts
went on. Over 600 plans or attempts on Fidel
Castro's life alone are known to authorities -- from
exploding cigars, to a wet suit lined with poison,
to a pistol hidden in a camera. Two of the most
recent have been the snipers arrested before
attempting to kill the president on Venezuela's
Margarita Island in 1997, and the bombing plot in
Panama City in 1999 which netted international
terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, currently in jail in
Panama awaiting trial. Things got to the point where
the US allowed ships at sea to openly shell
residential districts in Havana, as on August 24,
1962.
Who
outside Cuba knows of the slaughter of half a
million pigs after African swine fever was
introduced into the island by the CIA in 1971? Who
knows of the deaths of 81 children after their
deliberate infection with dengue fever ten years
later in 1981? Both instances were proven later, in
declassified US documents, to be the result of CIA
operations. And who can forget the bombing of a
Cubana flight in 1976 with the loss of all 73
passengers and crew and the subsequent freeing of
Orlando Bosch in 1990 by a US court after he was
found to be the principal terrorist responsible for
the crime?
In
1995 Leonel Macias González murdered a Cuban navy
officer and hijacked a coast guard vessel to the
United States.
Macias
assassinated Cuban navy officer Roberto Aguilar in
Mariel Bay on August 8th, hijacked the boat, and
afterwards picked up 24 passengers. Foreign Ministry
official Rafael Dausa said that Cuba presented a
video, and eye witness statements concerning the
murder and statements to the effect that Macias
himself admitted shooting the Cuban navy officer. US
courts, however, did not take this evidence into
consideration, and on April 17th , an INS appeals
court granted political asylum to Macias. Cuba
responded to his release by saying that it was the
equivalent to condoning terrorism.
More
recently, in 1997, came the bombings of tourist
hotels in an attempt to destroy the tourist industry
in Cuba. An Italian tourist was killed in one of the
explosions. Subsequent investigation uncovered the
hand of Posada Carriles with the financing of US
government-sponsored organizations based in Miami.
These
Cuban exile terrorists have been allowed to operate
openly within the United States, where they are
presented as heroes who are to be emulated. When
Cuba legitimately attempts to defend itself by
monitoring the actions of these organizations to
prevent further terrorist acts against it, the
United States government punishes those they catch
with long prison sentences for combating the very
same kind of despicable terrorism that so stupefied
the world after its use against the World Trade
Center.
If
there's to be a serious effort made to bring an end
to terrorism, it needs to be based on broad ethical
and moral principles. Many in the world today ask
how the US government can complain of Afghanistan
harboring terrorists, when this very same government
allows terrorists to operate openly on its own soil.
Jane
Franklin´s book entitled "The Cuban Revolution
and the United States: A Chronological History"
lists the many terrorist actions and related acts
perpetrated against Cuba from 1959 to 1990. The
following covers 1990 to 2001:
TERRORIST
ATTACKS AND RELATED ACTS AGAINST CUBA 1990-2001
July
17, 1990. Following lobbying by Florida
Republican Congresspersons, Ileana Ross and Connie
Mack, U.S. President George H. Bush released from
jail well-known terrorist Orlando Bosch, the man
chiefly responsible for the
October
1976
mid-flight bombing of a Cuban civil airplane,
killing all 73 on board.
October
14, 1990.
Two armed terrorists clandestinely enter Santa Cruz
del Norte with orders to carry out attacks. Their
weapons and false documents supplied in Miami were
confiscated. They also carried literature urging
people to join what they called "The Cuban
Liberation Army" headed by Higinio Díaz Anne
who had given them money and propaganda before they
set out.
May
15,1991.
José Basulto, an ex-Bay of Pigs mercenary and
well-known terrorist and CIA agent founded Brothers
to the Rescue. He asked U.S. President George H.
Bush for three U.S. Air Force type 0-2 planes, the
military version of the Cessna which had been used
in the war in El Salvador. Congresswoman Ileana Ross
started a public campaign and lobbied until the
three planes were obtained. A photo of the planes
received by this terrorist group appeared in the
press for the first time with a July 19 article by
the publisher of the Miami Herald, who flew with
Brothers to the Rescue. The letters "USAF"
(United States Air Force) are clearly visible on the
planes.
September
17,1991. Two terrorists from Miami illegally
enter Cuba to sabotage tourist centers and spread
terror among foreign tourists. Their weapons and a
radio transmitter were confiscated.
December
29, 1991. Three terrorists from the so-called
Commandos L group in Miami entered Cuba illegally.
Their weapons and other war materiel were
confiscated. These three had received training with
50 or 60 other men in a camp on 168th Street in
Miami.May 8 1992. Cuba files a complaint with the
United
Nations about terrorist activities organized against
its territory. At Cuba’s request, a June 23 1989
decision of the U.S. Department of Justice is
circulated as an official Security Council document.
The decision states that Orlando Bosch is banned
from entering the U.S. territory because there is
substantial proof concerning his past and present
terrorist activities, including the 1976 bombing of
a Cuban civil aviation plane in mid-flight. Today
this individual freely walks the streets of Miami
after George H. Bush granted him a presidential
pardon.
July
4, 1992. A
group of terrorists set out from the United States
to attack economic targets along the Havana
coastline. Once detected by Cuban patrol boats, they
moved to waters off Varadero, where the U.S.
Coastguard rescued them after their boat had a
mechanical failure. The FBI released them after
confiscating weapons, maps and videos made during
their journey.
July
1992. An operation to infiltrate a U.S.
terrorist into Cuba with the mission to sabotage an
economic target in Villa Clara province failed. He
was carrying the weapons and explosives needed for
the job and had the assistance of Brothers to the
Rescue who kept him informed about the position of
the U.S. Coastguard to make it easier for him to
reach Cuban territory without being discovered.
September
9, 1992. The FBI arrests a Cuban born terrorist
for illegal possession of firearms and violation of
the Law of Neutrality. He is released without
charges.
October
7, 1992. An
armed attack against the Varadero Meliá Hotel is
carried out from a vessel manned by four Miami
terrorists who were later arrested and questioned by
the FBI, then released.
October
19, 1992.
Three Miami based terrorists entered Cuba illegally
well supplied with weapons and military equipment
that were confiscated. At the same time, three other
terrorists were arrested in the Bahamas with weapons
and explosives apparently destined for Cuba, which
were also seized from them. These terrorists had
left Miami on October 17.
January
1993. Five terrorists on board a vessel armed
with heavy machine guns and other weapons were
arrested by the U.S. Coastguard as they were heading
toward the Cuban coastline. They were soon released.
January
7, 1993. At a press conference in Miami, Tony
Bryant, leader of the terrorist group
"Commandos L" announced plans to carry out
more attacks against targets in Cuba, especially
hotels. He said: "from now on we are at war
with Cuba" and warned foreign tourists to
"stay away from Cuba."
April
2, 1993.
The tanker ship "Mikonos" sailing under
the Cypriot flag was fired on 7 miles north of
Matanzas from a vessel crewed by Cuban born, U.S.
based terrorists.
May
18, 1993. Violation of Cuban airspace by a plane
registered to Brothers to the Rescue with the number
N8447.
May
21, 1993. Nine terrorists arrested by the U.S.
Customs Service on board a vessel as they prepared
to sail for Cuba to launch attacks on the island.
Their weapons and explosives were seized. On August
21, Judge Lawrence King dismissed charges against
them.
May
1993. Brothers to the Rescue planned to blow up
a high-tension pylon near San Nicolás de Bari in
Havana province.
October
1993. Brothers to the Rescue publicly encouraged
attempts on the life of President Fidel Castro and
violence against Cuba. It also confirmed its
readiness to accept "the risks that come with
doing this". Andrés Nazario Sargén, head of
terrorist group Alpha 66, makes an announcement in
the United States that his organization has recently
carried out five operations against Cuba.
October
18, 1993. A terrorist living in the United
States is arrested on his arrival in Cuba. His
orders were to carry out acts of violence on Cuban
soil.
November
7, 1993.
Humberto Pérez, spokesperson for Alpha 66, said in
a press conference in Miami that their war against
Cuba would soon be extended to any tourist visiting
the island: "We consider anyone staying in a
Cuban hotel to be an enemy ", he affirmed.
1993.
A Cuban citizen visiting the United States is
recruited by a terrorist organization to carry out
sabotage in Cuba against tourism and agricultural
targets. He was supplied with some of the materials
needed for such attacks and was offered the sum of
20,000 US dollars.
March
11, 1994. A
terrorist group from Miami fires on the
"Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel."
April
17, 1994.
Planes owned by Brothers to the Rescue fly at
extremely low altitude over Havana and drop smoke
bombs. In the following months of 1994 the same
group carried out at least seven other similar
violations of Cuba’s airspace.
September
4, 1994.
Two U.S. based terrorists infiltrated into the area
around Caibarién, Villa Clara, with the aim of
carrying out sabotage in that province. A number of
weapons and large amounts of military equipment were
seized.
October
6, 1994. Another armed group fired automatic
weapons at the "Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel"
from a boat that set out from Florida.
October
15, 1994. A group of armed terrorists coming
from the United States landed on the causeway to
Cayo Santa María near Caibarién, Villa Clara, and
murdered Arcelio Rodríguez García.
October
1994. Brothers to the Rescue uses one of its
planes to train members of a Florida based terrorist
organization to carry out acts of sabotage on the
Cienfuegos oil refinery. In November of that same
year, they also planned to make an attempt on the
life of President Fidel Castro and other leaders of
the Revolution and to smuggle arms and explosives
into Cuba.
November
1994.
Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and five of his
accomplices smuggled weapons into Cartagena de
Indias, Colombia, during the IV Ibero-American
Summit of Heads of State and Government in order to
make an attempt on the life of President Fidel
Castro. However, the security belt keeps him at a
distance thus thwarting his aim. Posada Carriles
later told the New York Times: "I was standing
behind some journalists and I saw Castro’s friend,
García Márquez, but I could only see Castro from a
long way away."
November
11, 1994.
Four terrorists were arrested in Varadero, Matanzas,
after entering Cuba illegally. They were relieved of
weapons and munitions.
March
2, 1995.
Two terrorists from the United States are caught
along the coast near Puerto Padre, Las Tunas. They
were carrying 51 pounds of C–4 explosives and
other munitions.
April
4, 1995. A
C–337 light plane violates Cuban airspace north of
Havana between Santa Fé and Guanabo beach.
May
20, 1995.
The "Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel" was once
again attacked by terrorists manning a fast launch
coming from the United States.
July
12, 1995.
Three terrorists were arrested in the United States
as they were preparing to sneak into Cuba using an
act of provocation just off the Cuban coast as
cover. Despite the discovery and confiscation of
weapons and explosives, U.S. authorities released
them.
July
13, 1995.
Organized by Brothers to the Rescue eleven vessels,
six light planes and two helicopters coming from the
United States enter Cuban territorial waters and
airspace. One of the light planes flew over the
center of Havana and dropped propaganda material.
December
16, 1995. Two terrorists were arrested in the
United States as they readied to enter Cuba
clandestinely through Pinar del Río to carry out
terrorist actions. Despite confiscation of their
weapons and explosive, U.S. authorities released
them.
January
9, 1996. Two light planes departing from
Opa-locka airport in Florida violated Cuban
airspace.
January
12, 1996. A Cuban immigrant living in the United
States was arrested while trying to transport
explosives from the City of Havana to Pinar del Río.
January
13, 1996.
Several Brothers to the Rescue planes violated Cuban
airspace over the City of Havana. Later, terrorist
José Basulto comments: "They say I was flying
over Cuban airspace, something everybody knows and
which I have never denied."
January
23, 1996. U.S. authorities intercepted a vessel
in Marathon Key with five armed terrorists on board.
It was headed for Cuba. The FBI released the five
that same day.
February
11, 1996. After firing on the Cuban coastline, a
vessel coming from the United States carrying three
terrorists was captured by a Cuban Coastguard
patrol.
February
24, 1996. Three Brothers to the Rescue heart of
Havana and two of them were shot down. The plane
that escaped was piloted by José Basulto who had
deliberately provoked the incident that led to
deaths of his four companions. In the 20 months
prior to this incident there had been at least 25
other violations of Cuban airspace.
June
26, 1996. At a session of the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Chairman of
the Investigating Committee acknowledges that at
least one of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in
Opa-locka airport still has the insignia of the U.S.
Air Force on it: "the ‘F’ is a little pale,
it looks as if it is beginning to fade, but you can
still see it".
August
21, 1996. A U.S. citizen is arrested in Cuba. He
had clandestinely brought military equipment into
the country and was planning to carry out terrorist
actions on Cuban soil.
September
16, 1996. A person is arrested who entered Cuba
illegally through Punta Alegre, Ciego de Ávila, on
a boat carrying weapons and a great deal of military
equipment.
21
October 1996. An SS-RR light plane, registration
number N3093M owned by the U.S. State Department
sprays a substance containing the agricultural pest
"Thrip Palmi Karny" as it flies over the
Girón international corridor about 25-30 kilometers
south of Varadero.
November
1996. Miami television channel 23 carried a live
interview with Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando
Bosch where they stressed their intentions of
continuing their terrorist activities against Cuba.
April
12, 1997. An explosive device was detonated in
the "Meliá Cohíba" Hotel in the City of
Havana.
April
30, 1997. Discovery of another explosive device
in the "Meliá Cohíba" Hotel.
July
12, 1997. Bombs explode in the "Capri"
and "National" hotels.
August
4, 1997. Another bomb exploded in the "Meliá
Cohíba" Hotel.
August
11, 1997. The Miami press published a statement
from the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF)
giving unconditional support to the terrorist bomb
attacks against civilian and tourist targets in
Cuba. The chairman of this organization claimed:
"We do not think of these as terrorist
actions" and went on to say that any action
against Cuba was legitimate.
August
22, 1997. Bomb exploded in the "Sol
Palmeras" Hotel in Varadero.
September
4, 1997. Several bombs exploded in the
"Tritón", "Chateau Miramar" and
"Copacabana" hotels. The explosion in the
latter killed young Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo.
On that same day another bomb exploded at "La
Bodeguita del Medio "restaurant.
September
10, 1997. The Cuban Government announced the
arrest of Salvadoran national Raúl Cruz León, the
person responsible of placing six of the bombs that
exploded in various hotels in the Cuban capital,
including the one that killed Italian tourist Fabio
Di Celmo. Cruz León admitted that he had been paid
4,500 US dollars for each bomb.
October
19, 1997. An explosive device was found in a
tourist bus.
October
27, 1997. The U.S. Coastguard arrested a vessel
west of Puerto Rico. They confiscated two high
velocity .50 caliber rifles with their tripods,
night vision gear, and military uniforms and
communications equipment. These sophisticated
weapons, strictly military in nature, are designed
for long-range attacks on vehicles and aircraft. One
of those on the vessel said that his aim was to
assassinate President Fidel Castro when he arrived
on Margarita Island, Venezuela, on November 7, 1997
to attend the Ibero-American Summit. U.S.
authorities found that the vessel was registered to
a Florida company whose chief executive officer,
manager, secretary and treasurer is José Antonio
Llama, a director of the CANF and a Bay of Pigs
mercenary. One of the guns was registered in the
name of José Francisco "Pepe" Hernández,
CANF co-chairman. A member of Brigade 2506 had
bought the other in 1994. The four crew members on
the vessel were identified as: a well-known CIA
agent; the captain of a CIA boat used by Florida
infiltration teams sneaking into Cuba; the chairman
of a New Jersey terrorist group and a member of the
terrorist organization Alpha 66. Despite their
confessions and clear proof of the illegal
possession of arms, false testimony and arms
smuggling, these terrorists were acquitted by a
Federal court in December 1999 after a rigged trial.
October
30, 1997. Discovery of an explosive device in a
kiosk outside Terminal 2 at the "José Martí"
International Airport in the City of Havana. Two men
originally from El Salvador and three originally
from Guatemala would later be arrested for crimes
against tourist facilities. They all were linked to
terrorist Luis Posada Carriles.
November
16, 1997. Following a two month investigation, a
Florida newspaper reported that the series of bomb
explosions in Havana were bankrolled and directed by
Miami anti-Cuban groups and that Luis Posada
Carriles, a fugitive from justice for having blown
up a Cuban plane in 1976, was at the heart of the
operation.
May
1998. Two terrorists clandestinely enter Santa
Lucía, Pinar del Río. They had set out from the
United States with a large number of weapons and war
materiel.
June
16, 1998. After several meetings in which the
Cuban Government gave information to the FBI and
other U.S. Government agencies about terrorist
activities concocted in the United States against
Cuba, an official U.S. delegation traveled to Havana
which included two high ranking FBI agents. They
were given precise details, even film, recordings
and other material evidence on the activities of 40
terrorists who operated out of the United States.
July
12, 1998. An article in The New York Times
published statements by Cuban-American Antonio Jorge
Álvarez concerning the fact that the FBI had not
investigated information he had volunteered related
to an attempt on the life of President Fidel Castro
that was being planned for the Ibero-American Summit
in Venezuela. Álvarez claimed that the previous
year he had provided information that Posada
Carriles, and a group working in his factory in
Guatemala, were preparing this attempt and the bomb
explosions in Havana: "I risked my business and
my life and they did nothing," he said.
July
12 and 13, 1998. In an interview with The New
York Times, Luis Posada Carriles admitted to having
organized the bomb campaign against Cuban tourist
centers. He also acknowledged that the leaders of
the CANF had bankrolled his operations and that its
chairman Jorge Mas Canosa was personally in charge
of overseeing the flow of funds and logistic support
to those operations: "Jorge Mas Canosa
controlled everything, whenever I needed money he
would say that he would give me $5,000, $10,000,
even $15,000 and he did. "Posada also admitted
to having paid Raúl Cruz León for placing the
bombs in Havana hotels. Referring to the Italian
tourist killed by one of those bombs, he told the
Times: "... he was sitting in the wrong place
at the wrong time." In compiling these reports,
the Times used CIA and FBI files, testimony from
more than 100 people and more than 13 hours of
recorded interviews with Posada Carriles and even
documents signed by him.
July
23, 1998. The Miami press published an article
entitled "In the United States anti-Castro
plots rarely lead to Jail". The article
mentions several cases, such as the 1990 acquittal
of 6 terrorists who took guns and other weapons to
Nicaragua for an attempt on the life of the Cuban
President. It also mentions the Rodolfo Frómeta and
Fausto Marimóm’s 1994 acquittals of charges of
planning to use Stinger antiaircraft missiles and
other weapons in terrorist attacks. The article
quotes statements from well-known terrorist Tony
Bryant who said that in 1989 the FBI stopped him in
a boat loaded with weapons and explosives and they
let him go. He added that he had been intercepted in
two of his 14 missions against Cuba, but they never
did anything to him.
August
2, 1998.
Posada Carriles, in an interview for the program
Opposing Points of View for CBS news, said that he
intended to launch more attacks on Cuban facilities,
either inside or outside the island.
August
1998. Even before President Fidel Castro’s
announcement that he would attend the Summit of
Heads of State and Government of CARIFORUM in the
Dominican Republic, several Cuban born terrorists
had planned an attempt on his life to be carried out
some time between
August
20 and 25.
To that end, terrorist Posada Carriles arranged a
meeting in the Guatemala City Holiday Inn Hotel one
month before the summit to plan how to get weapons
and explosives into Santo Domingo.
September
12 1998.
Five Cuban men were arrested in Miami for permorming
work that defended both Cuban and U.S. citizens from
the terrorist actions which, with total impunity,
are organized, prepared and launched against Cuba
from the United States.
November
17, 2000. A group of terrorists headed by Posada
Carriles was arrested in Panama. They had entered
Panama with false documents to make an attempt on
the life of President Fidel Castro during the X
Ibero American Summit of Heads of State and
Government. Their weapons, explosives and a sketch
of Castro’s route and public meetings were seized
from them. The Cuban American National Foundation is
paying for the team of lawyers defending the
terrorists.
April
26, 2001. Three terrorists of the Commandos
Groups F-45 and Alpha 66 tried to land on the north
coast of Villa Clara province and, after firing
shots at Cuban coastguard troops who had spotted
them, were taken prisoner. Four AKM rifles, one M-3
rifle with a silencer, 3 hand guns, a great deal of
materiel, night vision equipment and communications
equipment were confiscated to them, all of which
they intended to use to carry out sabotage and
terrorist actions on Cuban soil.In addition to the
plots listed above, Cuban authorities learned of 16
other plots to assassinate the President of Cuba, 8
plots to try to kill other leaders of the Revolution
and 140 other terrorist plots hatched between 1990
and 2001. These were foiled, discouraged or
prevented by the work of the Cuban Security and
Intelligence Services including the important
contributions of the five Cubans now serving long
prison sentences for defending their country against
the type of attacks you have just read about above.
The following describe attacks of another type –
the biological kind:
BIOLOGICAL
WAR WAGED BY THE U.S. AGAINST CUBA
--1962:
A US intelligence agent is known to have given
several thousand dollars to a Canadian to introduce
a disease infecting Cuban sea-turtles.
--1965:
A plastic balloon descends on a farm in Santiago de
las Vegas. When it hits the ground it expels a white
dust that spreads to cane plantation which is later
destroyed.
--1968:
A foreign specialist working for an international
agency is expelled after he is confirmed to have
introduced a virus affecting coffee crops.
--1970:
The US is caught seeding clouds over Cuba in an
attempt to affect the sugar harvest. The project was
part of a larger research plan called "The
Cooling" which was intended to devise ways of
manipulating the weather for political reasons.
--1971:
African swine fever is introduced in Cuba. Cuba
asserted that the container transporting the virus
came from Fort Gullick, a US military base in the
Panama Canal Zone. Those involved in the attack have
since testified to their part. The entire pig
population of Cuba had to be slaughtered.
--1977:
Cane smut is detected in Pilón, eastern Cuba. The
disease had never been known in Cuba until this
date.
--1978:
A previously unknown variety of the fungus Blue
Mould hits the sugar crops causing losses of
approximately 344 million pesos.
--1978:
Sugar cane rust affects a new variety of cane
imported from Barbados. As a result 1.35 million
tones of sugar are lost.
--1979-80:
Two different strains of African swine fever are
discovered emanating from distinct areas of
contamination. Three hundred thousand pigs are
slaughtered.
--1981:
A previously unknown Bovine skin disease erupts
affecting cows and bullocks throughout the island.
--1981:
A sudden outbreak of hemorrhagic dengue fever
affects 350,000 people. One hundred and fifty-eight
people, mostly children, die from the disease. The
outbreak had three initial breeding grounds in
Cienfuegos and Camagüey, all very close to
international air corridors. Just prior to the
outbreak it was discovered that the entire personnel
at the Guantanamo naval base had been vaccinated
against dengue. As a result there was not a single
case of the disease in the base.
--1981:
Hemorraghic conjunctivitis caused by the Enterovirus
70 strain spreads throughout the island. The Pan
American Health Organization is baffled because this
strain had never been seen in the hemisphere before.
--1984:
Eduardo Arocena, of Cuban origin and head of the
Omega-7 terrorist organization, stands trial in the
US accused of the murder of Felix Garcia Rodriguez,
a Cuban diplomat to the UN. During the trial Arocena
confesses to having introduced 'germs' into Cuba as
part of the US biological war against Cuba. He
affirms that the dengue outbreak was introduced into
the island by terrorist groups.
--1984:
An outbreak of dysentery causes the death of 18
children in Guantánamo province. to two workers who
had participated in a festive activity inside the US
Guantánamo naval base. The strain was again of a
type previously unknown in Cuba.
--1985:
An infectious bronchitis poultry virus seriously
disrupts egg production.
--1989:
Ulcerative mammillitis in dairy cattle caused by a
herpes virus spreads throughout the island affecting
milk yields.
--1990:
Black sigatoka, infects banana plantations
throughout the island. Once again the disease had
been hitherto unknown on the island. The disease
appeared precisely as Cuba began to put plans into
action to start intensive banana production.
--1991:
Acariasis disease which affects bees is discovered,
just as Cuban honey begins to be exported.
--1991:
Thirty thousand tobacco seedlings are discovered to
be infected with Fusorio, which once in the soil
means tobacco production has to Black plant louse
which carries a citrus disease known as Tristeza
(sadness) is discovered.
--1994:
Citric sapper blight is found in Pinar del Rio and
Camagüey.
--1993:
122,135 rabbits have to be slaughtered after an
outbreak of a viral disease.
--1995:
February 10. A camera case in the luggage of
a visiting US scientist is found to contain four
small test tubes of a biological substance. On
examination it is discovered to be the citric
Tristeza virus.
--1995:
Coffee borer is discovered in Granma province.
Losses of 80 per cent were attributed to it and
considerable resources have had to be spent on
containing it.
--1996:
Varroasis, another bee disease, is diagnosed in
three apiaries in Matanzas. Previously unknown in
Cuba, this disease is the worst of all that affect
honey production in the world.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
impunity with which these attacks are carried out
from US terroritory begs the question : How do they
get away with it? Most of all because the United
States corporate media has done such a good job of
demonizing Cuba over the past four decades. Whenever
friends from North America or Europe come to visit
they are astounded by the fact that all they learned
over the years about this island is either
completely untrue or, at best, grossly exaggerated.
Even people of progressive thinking tend to arrive
with a romanticized, uninformed view of the social
project Cuba is maintaining in spite of the kind of
political, economic and physical terrorism described
above. The enormous sums of money and power that the
right-wing Cuban American community in Florida
wields has, of course, the political clout necessary
to keep successive presidents in line with their
anti-Cuba agenda. With this site
http://www.antiterroristas.cu/ we are attempting to
provide as much information as possible to offset
this ruthless campaign against Cuba for simply
seeking a different form of democracy. In light of
the above, it should be clear just how necessary it
is for Havana to send courageous people like René,
Gerardo, Fernando, Antonio and Ramón to infiltrate
and monitor the terrorism openly and unashamedly
perpetrated against this island from the United
States.simon@rhc.cu
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