Last September, Gen. Michael Hayden (Director, Central Intelligence Agency) addressed the ODNI Open Source Conference in Washington, D.C. about the importance of open source intelligence collection.
General Hayden made an interesting anecdote (as follows) about his visit to a Key West open source facility wherein he watched a Cuban program and observed what analysts were able to extract from broadcasts on the island.
“In addition to that, we made a special effort to visit the outposts in the open source enterprise as well, and I think I we’ve got four of those already in terms of notches on my belt. One stop that meant a great deal to me was designed to be a courtesy call. I was in Key West, not on business. (Chuckles.) And there is an open source facility there that looks at that island about 90 miles just off the southern marker buoy there.
It was going to be a 20-minute courtesy call. I was there for three hours because, talk about time on target, the people in this little cinderblock shack on the extreme southern reaches of Key West knew so much about what was happening in Cuba. And for me as the Director of CIA to sit with them and watch Cuban soap operas and have them tell me what they were extracting from watching these soap operas was quite remarkable.
They gave me a videotape, DVD, of a program that they had captured from the Internet. And it had a Cuban soap-opera star starring in it, and there are only two other players. And his name is Nicanor (sp) and he’s making a fine brew of coffee and there’s a knock at his door. And it’s two individuals from the security service to install the microphones. (Laughter.)
We’re here to install the microphones. He says, what do you mean, microphones? And it goes for about 17 minutes of some of the most subtle satiric commentary on a totalitarian state I have ever seen. He mentions that they have to decide where to put the microphones and they can t put them in the kitchen because it s too noisy and the bedroom air conditioner interferes with it. So, finally, they say, we have to put the microphones in the bathroom. (Laughter.)
So he says, when I criticize the government, I must go into the bathroom? (Laughter.) And he said, why don’t we put another microphone over here? And then they begin to criticize him. What kind of person are you? There are only a limited number of microphones in Cuba! (Laughter.) There’s a family down the street that criticizes the government day and night. They have 11 kids and they’re only allotted one microphone.
It gave me a new appreciation for life and thought and the situation on the island.”
It looks like Gen. Hayden is referring to Monte Rouge, a Cuban satirical short, which spoofs state security. (Click video above to see the short.)
Rodriguez (l); Lage (c); Perez-Roque (r). Image: AP
Via AP:
Cuba abruptly replaced some of its most powerful and visible officials on Monday, including Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.
The surprise shakeup, involving about 10 top officials, was announced at the end of the midday newscast by Cuba’s supreme governing body, the Council of State.
Among others replaced is Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez.
Lage, 57, was one of five vice presidents below Raul Castro and had served as a de-facto prime minister. He was credited with helping save Cuba’s economy by designing modest economic reforms after the Soviet Union collapsed.
Perez Roque, 43, was previously personal secretary to Fidel Castro and a former leader of the Communist Party youth organization. He had been foreign minister for almost a decade.
Developing…
1640Z – Official Note from the Council of State announcing replacements and structural changes.
Raul Castro has ascended three of his government ministers – Ramiro Valdes (Communications Minister), Ulises Rosales del Toro (Agriculture Minister), and Jorge Luis Sierra (Transportation Minister) – to vice-presidents of the Council of Ministers. According to an official note published in the state media, the objective of the appointments is to make “more effective the control and coordination” of government.
Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz (Image from Juventud Rebelde)
According to a brief note in Granma, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Cuba’s Minister Without Portfolio, has been appointed Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and will oversee International Commerce, Foreign Investments, and Economic Collaboration ministries as well as other entities within the Central Administration of State.
La Razon reports on the creation of a super-ministry charged with overseeing the production of food (a vital national security issue for Cuba):
While rumors of a next government crisis runs insistently throughout Havana, the name of Ulises Rosales del Toro is beginning to be heard with greater impetus among diplomats and journalists. Rosales del Toro is the current Minister of Sugar, a two star general, 66 years-old with a brilliant service record for the regime.
According to unofficial sources, it seems Rosales del Toro will play a vital role in the restructuring of the Cuban government once Raul Castro sends the plan to parliament (National Assembly) before the end of the year.
“I know what you know,” responded Vice-Minister of Sugar Juan Godefroy to a query made by a US news agency interested in the role of that ministry in the unification of four ministerial posts that are linked to the production of food in the country.
Expected unification
Even though there is speculation without official confirmation point to Rosales del Toro, former chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, as the center of the expected unification or reorganization of the Ministries of Agriculture, Sugar, Food and Fishery.
The restructuring of the departments linked to the production of food which is a national security issue in Cuba began with sharing by municipalities of “many decisions that have been up to now made centrally in the Ministry of Agriculture,” opined Cuban economists who asked to remain anonymous.
“Unification of decision making” in the sector will be reached through that path but they declined to advance the names of who will head the new structure.
Radio Netherlands examines Russian interest in restoring its military base in Cuba and the Cuban government’s lack of interest:
Cuba itself has already made it fairly clear that there’s no question of a renewed Russian military colonialism. The country is still sore at the fact that the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought an end to the liberal flow of funds from Moscow. And the leadership in Havana hasn’t forgotten that ten years later, without any consultation, Russia ended to its last military presence in Cuba: the vast intelligence base in Torrens, better known as “Lourdes”, from which legend has it a pin could be heard falling anywhere in the southern United States, and all US communications could be tapped.
Mexico’s Informadorreports on the increased expression of violence in the island. Even though violence is minor in Cuba compared to other Latin American countries, the island is not exempt from that type of expression, which has increased recently and acknowledged by state media, asserts the daily.
The greater question for Raul Castro’s government lies when social violence spirals out of control and becomes political in nature resulting in a destabilizing variable.
The collapse of the Soviet Union has deprived the Cuban Army of its major economic and logistic support, and has had a significant impact on equipment numbers and serviceability. The army remains well trained and professional in nature, and is likely to have adopted previous doctrine to take into account the current shortcomings in the quality and quantity of equipment held. While the lack of replacement parts for its existing equipment and the current severe shortage of fuel have increasingly affected its operational capability and may continue to do so on some scale, Cuba remains able to offer considerable resistance to any regional power, including the United States. The international political environment, the country’s economic plight and Castro’s own conclusions about his Cold War interventions abroad, have limited Cuba’s efforts to export Marxist revolution. A new relationship with oil rich Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has translated into a recent boost in operational readiness, mainly due to oil credits and donations. So far this has not translated into a formal re-surge in Cuban military prowess, but Cuban instructors and doctrine is bound to penetrate the new ALBA member’s armed forces (Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia). However, most of Cuba’s foreign serving personnel are doctors. As in other Latin American countries, the army is the dominant service even though the FAR suffers from less interservice rivalry than most armed services in the region. There are three major geographical commands: Cuantos, Comandos, and Geogr
Cubanmedia reports Army General Raul Castro presided over a joint meeting of the Politburo and Council of State. The economic and social situation of the country were analyzed. Food production and rise in the main branches of productive activity and services were among other topics of discussion.
Also debated were some issues to be discussed at today’s session of the National Assembly (Cuban Parliament).
The June 17 encounter between Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, Castro advised Chavez to take care of himself from the Ecuadorean government, which is seeking an alliance with the United States.
El Universal, a Venezuelan daily, assures that Fidel Castro handed Chavez a report from Cuban Intelligence (G2) alerting to suspicious political movements by his colleague Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, of a possible plot by his ministers to overthrow him.
The report reveals the Ecuadorean leader is formulating his foreign policy and looking for a transfer of the US military base to Colombia.
The most severe warning Castro gave to Chavez is related to a plan by Chavez’s closest functionaries to overthrow him and in addition recommended to change his ministers for incompetence and theft. If Chavez wants to remain in power, according to the communique, Castro’s warning will obligate the Venezuelan president to reinforce his security plan.
Castro also suggested to Venezuelan president to change his ministers because his greatest enemies are among them.
Open Democracy has published an article written by Professor Antoni Kapcia, head of the Centre for Research on Cuba, University of Nottingham whereby he asks: “Where is Ra
Cuban television showed the first images of Fidel Castro, left, in more than five months, a silent video of him chatting in a garden with President Hugo Ch
The recent changes implemented by Cuba’s government (i.e., domestic appliances, cars, cell phones, and hotels now accessible to the populace) although positive, they do not go to the root of economic, social and political problems facing the country, writes Pedro Anibal Riera Escalante in La Nueva Cuba.
Riera Escalante under the cover of Cuban consul, was chief of Cuba’s Intelligence Center in Mexico City in the 1990s where he was sent to surveil and penetrate Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations in Central America. Years later, Riera Escalante was involved in an incident, which turned into an international scandal. Believing that he was going to defect in Mexico, the Cuban regime ordered operatives to kidnap Riera bringing him to Cuba in less than 24 hours with cooperation of Mexico’s government. In Cuba, Riera served years in prison, and was later set free.
Riera emphasizes:
While dissidents and opposition are not permitted to have access to the press, these measures, do not really constitute a democratic opening in the country.
Might this point of view be the growing mindset of a faction within Cuba’s intelligence apparatus acknowledging Cuba’s political state through Riera’s written voice?
The U.S. Army War College‘s Strategic Studies Institute published last month a monograph authored by Colonel (Ret.) Dennis E Keller, entitled “U.S. Military Forces and Police Assistance in Stability Operations: The Least-Worst Option to Fill the U.S. Capacity Gap.” Col. Keller gives a historical overview of U.S. foreign police training, where the “U.S. government is poorly [...]
The Spanish Embassy’s Office for Economic & Commercial Affairs in Havana published an informative 118-page study earlier this year on the administrative structure of Cuban state enterprise groups. This study provides an outline of the Cuban economic system controlled by the state and a general understanding of how the Cuban enterprise system functions. (Image: Embajada de España—Oficina Económica y [...]
Juan Tamayo of El Nuevo Herald has a piece on the 50th anniversary of the Battle at Escambray (the last armed internal combat against the Castro dictatorship.) Fifty years ago, Rivera was one of up to 4,000 Cubans battling Castro’s brand new government in a little-known, but nasty guerrilla war that raged in parts of [...]
CIA director and Cuban soap operas
27 July 2009 at 0007 in Commentary, Cuban Intelligence Service, Intelligence, Security by Armando F. Mastrapa 3d
Last September, Gen. Michael Hayden (Director, Central Intelligence Agency) addressed the ODNI Open Source Conference in Washington, D.C. about the importance of open source intelligence collection.
General Hayden made an interesting anecdote (as follows) about his visit to a Key West open source facility wherein he watched a Cuban program and observed what analysts were able to extract from broadcasts on the island.
It looks like Gen. Hayden is referring to Monte Rouge, a Cuban satirical short, which spoofs state security. (Click video above to see the short.)
[H/T: Danger Room]
Tags: CIA, Cuba, Cuban, Cuban soap operas, DA, DI, DIA, Government, Intelligence, IT, Key West, land, NAM, ODNI, PLA, Security, state, state security, US, Washington