The Cuba Triangle counters the accusations of agents of influence for Cuba made by Lt. Col. Chris Simmons during his July 31st TV interview on A Mano Limpia.

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Oxford University Press will publish in August a new book on the Bay of Pigs written by Howard Jones, Professor of History at the University of Alabama and a specialist in U.S. Foreign Relations.

I’m about to receive an advance copy of the book and will post a review.

Here’s a description:

In January 1959, as Fidel Castro entered Havana in triumph, Americans hailed the revolutionary as a hero. Then came Castro’s increasingly anti-American talk, the rise in his regime of the openly Marxist Che Guevara and Raul Castro, and seizures of American-owned assets. In little more than a year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower concluded that Castro must go.

In The Bay of Pigs , Howard Jones provides a concise, incisive, and dramatic account of the disastrous attempt to overthrow Castro. He deftly examines the train of missteps and self-deceptions that led to the invasion of U. S.-trained exiles at the Bay of Pigs. Ignoring warnings from the ambassador to Cuba, the Eisenhower administration put in motion an operation that proved nearly unstoppable even after the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. The CIA and Pentagon, meanwhile, both voiced confidence in the outcome of the invasion, especially after coordinating previous successful coups in Guatemala and Iran. As a vital part of the Cuban effort, the CIA sought to incite a popular insurrection by recruiting the Mafia’s help in engineering Castro’s assassination on the eve of the invasion. And so the Kennedy administration launched the exile force toward its doom in Cochinos Bay on April 17, 1961. Jones gives a riveting account of the battle–and the confusion in the White House–before moving on to explore its implications. The Bay of Pigs, he writes, set the course of Kennedy’s foreign policy. It was a humiliation for the administration that fueled fears of Communist domination and pushed Kennedy toward a hardline cold warrior stance. But at the same time, the failed attack left him deeply skeptical of CIA and military advisers and influenced his later actions during the Cuban missile crisis.

Richly researched, vividly written, The Bay of Pigs offers an engaging and thoughtful account of the turning point in Kennedy’s foreign policy and indeed in foreign policy for decades to come.

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Via MSNBC:

U.S. intelligence officials are analyzing newly released video of Cuban leader Fidel Castro for clues about his health and political viability, NBC News has learned.

The CIA has a medical intelligence unit that has long tracked the health of Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul, now the country’s president. But the CIA’s political analysts are equally interested in the new video, released Tuesday, since it also shows the two brothers interacting. Raul Castro succeeded his brother in February. Fidel Castro had last been seen a month earlier, meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In Tuesday’s release, the two Castros were shown meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez told reporters afterwards that he and the Castros had spoken for five hours over two days and had “walked in the garden.”  U.S. intelligence officials believe the video was recorded in the gardens of Punto Cero, Fidel Castro’s modest family compound west of Havana.

This is, the official said, the first time Fidel has met with a visiting dignitary since being succeeded by his brother. Raul had to be there or there might be confusion in Cuba as to who is actually in charge, the U.S. official noted.

For years prior to the handover of power, U.S. intelligence officials believed that Raul Castro would be hamstrung politically by such perceptions, if Fidel Castro were incapacitated for a long time. However, they concede that Raul has managed perceptions so well (helped perhaps inadvertently by videos showing how frail Fidel Castro has become) that that does not appear to be an issue, either domestically or internally. Fidel Castro had abdominal surgery in July 2006.

In addition to the presence of Raul Castro on the video, the official also noted:

• For the first time, Fidel Castro was seen meeting a dignitary outdoors.  The analysis is that this is intended to show Fidel Castro as engaged and relaxed, rather than close to death, as many believe.
• The video was carefully edited, apparently to show Fidel Castro as animated and alert. It totaled two minutes and 24 seconds.
• There was no clumsy attempt to show Fidel Castro moving around, as there had been in a video released last year. The official described that video as “looking like a drunk [DUI] stop.” Fidel Castro was seen trying to display good balance and exercising. “Whoever put that together should be out cutting cane,” said the official. “Or spending time at Villa Marista,” he added, alluding to Cuba’s most notorious prison.
• The video was silent, prohibiting analysts from determining the strength of Fidel’s voice.  That is likely to be noted by the Cuban public as well.
• This may have been an attempt to quell rumors, which have raced through South Florida in the last week, that Fidel Castro had died.  “The timing could have been meant to stick it to the Miami Cubans,” said the official.

There is no doubt that Castro is dying, said the U.S. official, “we just don’t know when.”

Cuban officials tell NBC’s Havana producer Mary Murray that while Fidel Castro is staying “active and informed about decisions,” he will never appear again in public. “It is only a matter of time,” said one, implying that his life is coming to an end.

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U.S. intelligence agencies have reported that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recently used Fidel Castro’s Cuban Airline jet for his recent travel to the Middle East and Europe, highlighting the close ties between Chavez and Cuba’s communist government, according to a new report by Geostrategy-Direct.com.

Chavez said on Nov. 19, after arriving at Orly Airport in Paris, that he flew from Tehran to Paris in Cuban President Fidel Castro’s jet, which he noted was not an Airbus and he praised the aircraft as being “fast” and “comfortable.” Chavez then said on Nov. 20 upon arriving at Portela International Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, that he was flying to Havana from Lisbon the next day.

“The Venezuelan president’s use of a Cubana Airlines jet on this trip contrasts with past travels when he has been observed to fly in his presidential jet, an Airbus A319,” one official said. Chavez also traveled to Saudi Arabia.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said Cuban-Venezuelan intelligence ties remain close and are growing, with large numbers of Cuban intelligence personnel working in Venezuela. In some cases, Venezuelan ambassadors sent abroad were actually Cuban intelligence operatives.

Source: World Tribune & Geostrategy-Direct.com

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