The Excluded Cubans: Used by the CIA Unwanted by the USA
HAVANA TIMES — The arrest of four infiltrated anti-Castro militants from Miami, sent to attack military units, highlights the situation of some 20 Cuban-Americans, who upon leaving prison in Cuba are considered unwelcome by Washington.
One is Thomas Ramos, old anti-Castro militant, whose history includes several infiltrations into Cuba and long prison sentences. “I came to rouse military units and promote a coup. In Miami I was assured that they had contact with officiers from Cuba willing to rebel.”
He worked coordinated with a CIA officer who promised him US citizenship. However, he was arrested and when he came out of prison 18 years later, things had changed so much that the US Interests Section in Havana denied him a visa to return to the USA on the grounds that he has a violent past.
“The young woman who received me knew nothing of the history of Cubans, she was plain stupid. I explained that before we were all operatives and that I was sent here by Colonel Frank Sturgis of the CIA,” Thomas said.
We contacted the US Interests Section (USIS) in Havana to ask about the situation of these excluded Cuban-Americans who were denied a visa, but got no response from the diplomats.
“I understand that Americans are entitled to accept whoever they want and that politics is dirty but when I was denied entry to the US I felt disappointed and betrayed,” said Ramos, adding that his mother is alone in a nursing home in Miami.
He doesn’t understand the new policy from Washington because, “I’m an anti-communist and I believe that anything done against communism is legal. Also, I didn’t kill anyone, so there are no grounds to say I’m a terrorist and therefore cannot enter the US.”
“I came here to look for ways to produce a coup to overthrow communism. My last mission included a plan to destroy the communications tower atop the Habana Libre Hotel to remove the interference that prevents the reception of TV Marti,” he said.
For those plans he was trained in the Florida Everglades, in the camps of the Partido de Unidad Nacional Democrática party. He recalls that “Colonel Frank Sturgis was very human and true to his work, he helped me with a little money and I helped him.”
“I only regret that he [Sturgis] died because if he were alive I would not be in Cuba, but next to my mother. Neither the CIA nor the US government sent me, but I wanted to come and Sturgis assured me that when I returned I would immediately be given citizenship.”
Regarding the recently captured Cuban Americans Ramos said, “They are four fools that someone used. Infiltrating Cuba today is stupidity, sending people to the slaughter. I learned that the Communists become strong when they are attacked militarily.”
Anyhting including death is okay with me TRAITORS must never be forgiven or accepted
The USA never trained or supported Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, the Taliban or the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Off the top of my head? Bolivia, Uruguay, Belize, Suriname, Guyana, and Peru? US hegemony in our hemisphere is a mixed blessing. Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and Panama have certainly benefitted from their close ties to the US. What would Puerto Rico become without its ties to the US? I am suggesting that it is not all bad to be friends with the US.
Lol, I do? Can you accept the challenge and list the countries in Latin America never invaded, occupied or otherwise politically destabilized by the US?
That said, I agree with your second point, except that I think that “enemy of my enemy is my friend” is utter BS and the results of said policy in foreign relations is disastrous. Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden, the Taleban, Iran… the list is long and contains all major external threats the US has been facing in the last 20 years or so. All former “friends” trained and supported by the US at some point in time.
Even the most fervent Cuban revolutionaries don’t call Posado Carriles an “ex-Cuban”. Traitor? Certainly, but even they realize the connection to ‘la patria’ is permanent. You wish to deny fathers their ‘head-of-household’ status and now you think you are embued with the right to take away Cuban citizenship. You are a different sort indeed.
AC, you exaggerate a smidge. I will concede that the US has not been exactly the Boy Scouts in the Latin America. That said, I will also concede that the US has “tolerated” certain groups who have organized and trained on US soil to carry out paramilitary operations in unfriendly countries. How does the saying go, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend”?
Double standard? Do you mean all those pesky US military interventions, the overthrown of democratic governments, creation of puppet military juntas with the usual dose of nastiness, like prosecution, torture, executions, kidnapping of children, etc all around the place? Mexico, Honduras. Haiti, Cuba, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Dominical Republic, Guatemala… the interesting question here is what country in Latin America has the US NOT yet invaded. Isn’t that an affront to democracy? And aren’t military dictatorships the very DEFINITION of totalitarianism?
Also, don’t delude yourself; we are NOT talking about pro democracy campaigns, we are talking about military operations, paramilitary bands, death squads, sabotage, political assassinations, terrorist operations (including bombing of civilian airplanes), allegations of biological warfare, specifically the introduction of plagues affecting human, livestock and crops, etc.
Those are VIOLENT means of opposing a government that have resulted in THOUSANDS of civil casualties and ILLEGAL under both domestic (US) an international laws and the bottom line is that the US government at the very least tolerates groups within their own territory known to employ said tactics.
Any terrorist activity launched from a particular country puts that country in the position of aiding and abetting terrorism and the oh -so-moral- USA is often bombing or droning targets whence “terrorist” attacks originate.
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander .
Do you have any clue how much of a double standard you set up in denying U.S. responsibility for ex-Cubans attacking what is now a foreign country for them . ?
IMO They are ex-Cubans because they have permanently left Cuba and have sworn allegiance to a sworn enemy of the Cuban people..
They are Americans, to use the term commonly used for U.S. residents , and not Cubans.
When a child is adopted by a new family he becomes a member of that family and is no longer a member of his original family .
In attacking Cuba they have taken on a U.S. cause and identity .
They could never be happy in a socialist Cuba , could they ?
The Castro dictatorship is an affront to the host of democracies in the Western hemisphere. By virtue of Castro interventions, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador have edged closer to totalitarianism. To the extent these extremists groups launch their pro-democracy campaigns in Cuba from US soil with the awareness of the US government, it remains a debatable issue if the good outweighs the bad. I lean toward the good these groups can do toward regime change but I acknowledge the possibility of a double standard.
What gives you the right to call someone “EX”-Cuban. Your opinion you say? OK, that must be why I can say you hate America then. What US law is broken if a bunch of extremist wackos set out on their boat or on their plane on a heading that takes them to Cuba? In a free society, we have to put up with people who do things like play army or criticize the nuclear family. It sucks but that’s what freedom means.
You did it again.
Now explain how I “Hate America” and not the policies and actions of the oligarchic government of the USA.
I want full details of everything you see me as hating about America or a retraction of that stupid phrase.
I will chase you on this should you choose to ignore the request..
Do please learn the difference between hating the policies of the United States and “hating America” which is so broad a concept as to render it a meaningless and cheap shot from those who can’t come up with something intelligent to say.
As for the ex-Cubans who have military camps, training etc in the Everglades . I NEVER said that I had a problem with guys playing soldier.
When I was around six years old, I played soldier and cowboys and Indians and had toy guns. It was great fun but then I grew up.
My problem is that these guys launch their raids from U.S. territory which, by itself makes the GOUSA COMPLICIT in terrorist activities and by the code of the Empire, Cuba would be entirely justified in cluster bombing these encampments just as the U.S. does in its fraudulent.
Obama has doubled the number of Special Forces bases around the world since he took office.
They are in 70% of the world’s countries if I remember the statistic correctly .
He is a military adventurist who makes Bush look like a Boy Scout.
The only reason he hasn’t attacked Cuba is because he knows (unlike you ) that just as it was at Playa Giron, the Cuban people WILL resist like no other group the U.S. has ever encountered and that, as it was in Vietnam , they will “…..have to destroy the country to save it”
There is no downside domestically to anything the GOUSA does to the Cuban people because the U.S.’s population has limited knowledge of things outside their living room and as it was in Vietnam , killing 3 million people is okay as long as you do it where they don’t have to see the blood , gore and suffering. ;.
The facts are that there been a great number of anti-Cuban terrorist raids and activities launched from U.S. territory and to think that the GOUSA is not aware of these activities and not somehow covertly or indirectly sponsoring them is way past naïve.
That these right wingers were incompetent just goes with the territory , doesn’t it Mr. USA-Is-All-About-Democracy ?.
Thats not an apples to apples comparison, one thing is deny involvement on a specific action and another completely different is to deny entry to the US AFTER serving their sentence BECAUSE of that involvement.
And is even worse in this case because even if he is not a US citizen or even a resident, he has a somewhat valid claim to political refugee status, meaning that US have a good excuse to give them a visa without acknowledging said involvement, while Cuba would be more than happy to get rid of him and is unlikely to object or block his return to US soil.
You are missing the point. There is no need to prove that taxpayer money was used or that the operation originated from a government agency; the US is in a self appointed crusade against terrorism and allowing terror attacks originating from their own territory ranges from incompetence to pure hypocrisy.
The US government keeps an eye in those wackos and from time to time cracks on the more dangerous ones on a regular basis. The fact that they don’t do anything knowing their goals -specifically violent actions against a foreign nation-, even when external information is provided makes a mockery of the entire war on terror.
Neither you nor John have any proof that taxpayer money paid for the training or transport of these knuckleheads. There are extremists like John who hate the US so intensely that they use their own funds to “play army”. It should come as no surprise that there are anti-Castro groups who likewise organize and train on US soil. Our laws protect these wackos and the US should not be blamed for their actions.
This article is misleading, as neither Thomas Ramos nor Frank Sturgis were not involved in the recent alleged plot. Fernando is recycling old news, making reference to the recent events and hoping nobody notices they aren’t connected. (Good work, Fernando, be sure to drop by the MININT office to pick up your cheque.) Maybe tomorrow you can do a story on the Bay of Pigs, and then mention these 4 bozos? That’ll be good for a laugh.
It is precisely because the FBI has a bug up Posada Carriles’ butt that I do not believe that there is much fact behind this alleged plot. If Carriles was involved, the FBI would have known and shut them down. President Obama is unwilling to take major risks even where the US has an active interest, such as Ukraine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria. There is no way he would approve a covert op against Cuba, and no way he would use four amateur dirt bags like these guys if he did, which he didn’t.
Listen Moses, yes by all means by the second amendment you have the right to bear arms and protect your property, and play army as you put it, my word is militia. And any thing related to a militia in the constitution is referring to the US military. I think your missing John’s point. Plain and simple that if you train someone and finance them to act in any way in an attack towards another country, or send them onto the soil of that country it is an act of terrorist state, with no active war going on. Now don’t get me wrong, I know these types of things are being done in most countries in some way everyday.
Listen genius, in a free country, it is not illegal for a group of men to get together and play army. Given our second amendment to the US constitution, their right to own and bear arms on private property is protected by law. There are scores of people like you who hate the US who engage in paramilitary drills all the time. Do the US intelligence services know who these guys are? I should hope so. But as long as what they are doing on private property is legal there is nothing law enforcement can do to stop them. Their existence on US soil does not make the US a terrorist state. It simply means that living in a free country sometimes means we have to put up with people like you.
Is anyone surprised, sure there is more to this all story then I have knowledge of, but really are we surprised? This is “policy” for the USA, get what you can, use who you can, and when nothing left or not needed, what do they do? Turn their backs and scream, terrorism….. When the USA smiles at you, know you have something they want!
This article is ridiculous. “My last mission included a plan to destroy the communications tower atop
the Habana Libre Hotel to remove the interference that prevents the
reception of TV Marti.” LOL. Only the most fevered Castroite would fall for such nonsense.
The people involved in this attack on Cuba lived in and trained in Florida.,
Their presence , activities and intentions HAD to be known by U.S. officials if not actually financed by them.
This makes the United States a terrorist state .
It puts the lie to those who deny U.S. terrorism by using the perpetrators own words.
Of course these people were used like toilet paper and flushed when they were no longer useful.
What did they expect of the Empire ? Gratitude ? Reward?
Just WHOM did they think they were dealing with ?
Ignorance and evil-mindedness both come with a high price.
Frank Sturgis had in interesting career. Like many in the business, he seems to have had no fixed ideology:
Sturgis moved to Miami in 1957, where the Cuban wife of his uncle Angelo Vona introduced him to former Cuban president Carlos Prio, who joined with other Cubans opposing dictator Fulgencio Batista to plot their return to power. They were sending money toMexico to support Fidel Castro. Prio asked Sturgis to go to Cuba to join up with Castro and to report back to the exiled powers in Miami.[6]
Sturgis met up with Castro and his 400 rebels in the Sierra Maestra mountains. Sturgis offered to train Castro’s troops in guerrilla warfare. Castro accepted the offer, but he also had an immediate need for guns and ammunition, so Sturgis became a gunrunner. Using money from anti-Batista Cuban exiles in Miami, Sturgis purchased boatloads of weapons and ammunition from CIA weapons expert Samuel Cummings’ International Armament Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia. Sturgis explained later that he chose to throw in with Castro rather than Prio because Fidel was a soldier, a man of action, whereas Prio was a politician, more a man of words.[7] In March 1958, Sturgis opened a training camp in the Sierra Maestra mountains, where he taught Che Guevara and other 26th of July Movement rebel soldiers guerrilla warfare.[8] When the revolution ended in January 1959, Castro appointed Sturgis gambling czar and director of security and intelligence for the air force, in addition to his position as a captain in the 26th of July Brigade.[9]
The 1975 Rockefeller Commission report found that “Frank Sturgis was not an employee or agent of the CIA either in 1963 or at any other time.”[10] Rather it appears that Sturgis was a contract hire of the CIA.
In an interview with New York Daily News reporter Paul Meskil on June 20, 1975, Sturgis stated, “I was a spy. I was involved in assassination plots and conspiracies to overthrow several foreign governments including Cuba, Panama, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. I smuggled arms and men into Cuba for Castro and against Castro. I broke into intelligence files. I stole and photographed secret documents. That’s what spies do.”
In 1979, Sturgis traveled to Angola to help rebels fighting the communist government, which was supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union, and to teach guerrilla warfare. In 1981 he went to Honduras to train the US backed Contras who were fighting Nicaragua’sSandinista government, which was supported by Cuba and the Soviet Union; the Army of El Salvador; and the Honduras death squads. He made a second trip to Angola and trained rebels in the Angolan bush for Holden Roberto. He interacted with Venezuelan terrorist Carlos the Jackal. In 1989 he visited Yassir Arafat in Tunis. Arafat shared elements of his peace plan, and Sturgis was debriefed by the CIA on his return.[24]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sturgis
Obviously this guy never watched the old 1960’s TV series ‘Mission Impossible’ or the recent movies starring Tom Cruise. At the beginning of every episode or movie, the character played by Peter Graves and Tom Cruise is advised that the government will disavow any knowledge of the operatives should they be captured or killed. It’s spycraft 101 dude.