Cuba has said it is ready to release more political prisoners, in addition to the 52 it announced it would free earlier this month. The releases are part of a deal between Cuba, the Catholic Church and Spain, which is taking in many of the men after their release. But the US has said prisoners who do travel to Spain will no longer be eligible for asylum in America, where many have relatives. [BBC]
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The man behind the operation that broke up the most important organization involved in falsified documents in the United States was a double-agent who worked for Cuba and the United States. His codename was Lázaro.
In statements to EFE, Lázaro (whose real name is Robert Kelly) described the principal goal of “Tag Operation,” which was to prove Islamic terrorists used false documents sold by a [Mexican] group, however, the operation could not be completed because there was a lack of cooperation between U.S. security agencies.
Kelly (63-years old) is writing a book titled, Non Official Cover: The History of Lázaro (Sin cobertura oficial: la historia de Lázaro), where he relates his first mission was to infiltrate the Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence (Dirección de Inteligencia de Cuba) at the end of 1999 when he created a web page called La Voz de Cuba to defend the return of Elián González to his father.
He also asserts in his book that he was involved in the sale of SAM missiles in Nicaragua and in the defection of a Cuban scientist to the United States.
More of the EFE piece here.
Miami New Times profiled Kelly in 2009 after having approached the weekly about his tales of intrigue.
(Image: Original Spy vs Spy cartoon drawn by Antonio Prohias and featured in MAD magazine #60, January 1961.)
Tags: Cuba, Cuban General Directorate of Intelligence, Cuban intelligence, CuIS, Dirección de Inteligencia de Cuba, double agent, Elián González, Islamic terrorists, Lázaro, Robert Kelly, Sin cobertura oficial: la historia de Lázaro, Tag Operation, US
Russian President Medvedev with Raul Castro in Havana, JAN 2009 (Image: Reuters)
Richard Lourie, author of “The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin,” wrote an op-ed in The Moscow Times with the following observation about Cuba-Russia relations and the geo-strategic importance of the island in world power politics:
Cuba needs money, spare parts for Soviet military equipment and a sense of alliance with a heavyweight player. During President Dmitry Medvedev’s November 2008 visit, Fidel declared that Russia and Cuba were natural partners because both were “constantly threatened by the same adversary of peace.”
A senior U.S. official has stated that Russia “has strategic ties to Cuba again, or at least that’s where they’re going.” Some say the Russians want to refit the listening post in Lourdes, outside Havana, which they abandoned in 2002, for use in cyber-espionage and cyber-warfare. Or the Russians might want a refueling base for their naval vessels and their bombers, which have resumed aggressive patrolling. (Right after Medvedev’s visit, Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Security Council, as well as Alexander Maslov, head of Russia’s air defense, also visited Havana.) But these are secondary, tactical considerations.
Russia’s No. 1 foreign policy objective is to keep Ukraine out of NATO. At the moment, NATO membership hardly seems imminent. Disappointed in liberalism, Ukraine is becoming more pro-Russian, and Europe is relieved not to deal with that troublesome country for the time being.
Tags: Alexander Maslov, Cuba, dmitry medvedev, Fidel Castro, Havana, Lourdes, Moscow, NATO, Nikolai Patrushev, Russia, Ukraine, US
The Center for Strategic and International Studies — CSIS released a report “Cuba Outlook: Raúl and Beyond,” based on its Cuba Outlook panel discussion series, which began late last year; concluding the Summer of ’09.
Nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War, Cuba remains a policy dilemma for the United States. The transition from Fidel Castro to his brother Raúl, which began when Raúl assumed the responsibilities of the presidency of the Council of State on July 31, 2006, as a result of Fidel’s illness, is still ongoing after three years. Fidel remains alive—perhaps even to a point revived—but with very limited exercise of authority. Raúl has taken charge of government, but he must still contend with Fidel’s legendary presence.
Expectations of change under Raúl Castro have been largely unmet; continuity remains the key theme of his regime. Meanwhile, the election of Barack Obama in the United States has resulted in a reexamination of U.S. policy toward Cuba, including some meaningful, however limited, first steps to reach out to the regime in Havana. The U.S.-Cuba bilateral relationship is likely to remain a work in progress well into the future. This report, which outlines conclusions reached from the seven panel discussions with experts in the field, is intended as a point of reference for decisionmakers in and out of government who deal with Cuba.
[H/T: ASCE]
Tags: bi-lateral relations, CSIS, Cuban armed forces, FAR, Fidel Castro, Havana, MINFAR, Raul Castro, US
An audience of Russian generals and colonels and members of the NATO Mobile Education Training Team at the General Staff Academy in Moscow listens to lectures. Image: NATO
A recent flurry of activities from the Russian Federation, its armed forces and Cuba, i.e. Russian strategic bombers possibly using Cuban airfields and the possible reactivation of the Lourdes SIGINT facility, leads to a further inquiry on the Cuban military leadership
Tags: airfields, America, Armed Forces, Cuba, Cuban, Cuban military, DA, dni open source center, FAR, federation of american scientists, IT, Lourdes, Military, military leadership, Russia, russian federation, russian strategic bombers, SIGINT, UN, US, Venezuela
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.
- Marino Murillo Jorge replaces Jos
Tags: Carlos Lage, Carlos Valenciaga, Castro, CIA, communist, Control, Council of Ministers, Council of State, Cuba, Cuban, DA, DI, economic reforms, Economy, Felipe P, Felipe Perez Roque, Fidel, Fidel Castro, foreign relations, Government, Granma, Havana, investment, IT, Jos, Military, Military Industries Union, Nomenklatura, party, PLA, Prices, Raul, Raul Castro, Rodrigo Malmierca, Security, shakeup, state, talibans, technocrats, UN, US, vice-minister
U.S. Joint Forces Command (USFCOM) released its Joint Operating Environment 2008 today outlining a strategic framework that forecasts possible threats and opportunities that will challenge the future US joint force.
USJFCOM is one of US Department of Defense’s nine combatant commands and has several key roles in transforming the U.S. military
Tags: Argentina, bolivarian revolution, border regions, Brazil, Castros, Central America, Chile, China, combatant commands, criminal gangs, Cuba, drug cartels, economic policies, economic situation, international environment, Latin America, Mexico, military problems, military requirements, oil infrastructure, oil revenues, oil wealth, Peru, Russia, South America, terrorist organizations, US, us department of defense, Venezuela, Western Hemisphere
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev concluded his visit to Havana. He met with Fidel Castro and said that a new bilateral accord will be waiting for President Raul Castro when he visits Russia. Medvedev and Raul Castro signed mining and oil exploration deals and discussed “military technical cooperation.”
- Raul Castro said that he is willing to meet with President-Elect Obama on “neutral ground”
Tags: Cuba, dmitry medvedev, Fidel Castro, guantanamo bay, Havana, Latin America, Nicaragua, obama, Oil exploration, Raul Castro, Russia, Sugar, US, Venezuela
An October photo of a frail Fidel Castro with Ministrel Kirill (Russian Orthodox Church). Image: mospat.ru
Fernando Ravsberg of the BBC writes from Havana about the debate going on in the streets of the capital. Many are asking themselves if there is a paralysis in the reforms started by Ra
Tags: Cuba, Cuban Communist Party, Cuban Government, Fidel Castro, Havana, party congress, PCC, US
If proven true, U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba will change dramatically with the next presidential administration on the prospect of a viable strategic source of oil in close proximity to U.S. shores.
Via BBC:
The state-owned Cuban oil company says the country may have more than 20bn barrels of oil in its offshore fields – more than double the previous estimate.
Cubapetroleo’s exploration manager said drilling in the offshore wells would begin as early as the middle of 2009.
Such reserves would place Cuba among the top 20 oil producing nations.
Cubapetroleo’s estimates are based on comparisons to known oil reserves found within similar geological structures off the coasts of the US and Mexico.
The company said Cuba had undersea geology “very similar” to that surrounding Mexico’s giant Cantarell and Poza Rica oil fields in the Bay of Campeche.
‘More data’
Cuba’s share of the Gulf of Mexico was established in 1977, when it signed treaties with the US and Mexico.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) recently estimated that as much as 9bn barrels of oil and 21 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could lie within that zone, in the North Cuba Basin.
However, Cubapetroleo exploration manager Rafael Tenreyro Perez said his company’s estimate was higher because it had better information about Cuba’s offshore geology.
“I’m almost certain that if [USGS officials] ask for all the data we have, their estimate is going to grow considerably,” he told a news conference in the capital, Havana.
If correct, Cuba’s oil reserves would be almost the same as those of the US – 21bn barrels, according to the Oil & Gas Journal – and nearly twice the size of Mexico’s – 11.7bn barrels.
It could generate unprecedented wealth for the Communist-run state.
Mr Tenreyro said he expected the first production well to be drilled before the middle of next year by a consortium led by the Spanish oil company, Repsol, and that more wells could be started before 2010.
Cuba currently produces 60,000 barrels of oil a day.
It depends on Venezuela for an additional 93,000 barrels a day, which it receives at preferential rates in exchange for the services of thousands of Cuban doctors working in Venezuela.
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Tags: Cuba, exploration, Gulf of Mexico, Havana, North Cuba Basin, oil producing nations, oil reserves, US, Venezuela
Glonass satellite system. (Illustration: Ria Novosti.)
Via Space Daily:
Russia could include Cuba and Venezuela into a satellite navigation system originally designed for missile targeting by the Soviet military, the head of Russia’s space agency said Wednesday.
“We discussed the theme of joint use of the Glonass satellite navigation system,” Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying, referring to talks with the authorities in Venezuela.
Perminov said similar negotiations had been held with Cuban authorities and that Moscow and Havana had talked “in a preliminary way about the possibility of building a space centre in Cuba with our assistance,” RIA Novosti reported.
Glonass was developed for missile targeting by the Soviet army in the 1980s to compete with the GPS system used by the United States. The project is expected to be completed, with 24 satellites in orbit, by 2009.
Glonass is currently administered by the Russian defence ministry.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week boosted financing for the long-delayed project by 1.85 billion euros (2.61 billion dollars). Glonass also aims to compete with the European Union’s Galileo system.
Russia has boosted military cooperation with Venezuela in recent months, reviving memories of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War in the Caribbean region.
In a move seen as a direct response to US plans to set up missile defence installations in the Czech Republic and Poland, Russia this month announced it was dispatching warships and long-range bombers to Venezuela for exercises
Tags: Caribbean, caribbean region, Cuba, cuban authorities, defence installations, defence ministry, gps system, military cooperation, missile defence, Moscow, Poland, ria novosti, russian defence, russian prime minister, satellite navigation system, satellite system, soviet army, space centre, US, Venezuela, vladimir putin
Via Sunday Herald:
THE SCOTTISH historian Niall Ferguson has warned that the strategic alliance between China and Russia is more of a threat to the West than the credit crunch.
Ferguson, a best-selling author, broadcaster and professor of history at Harvard University, said that the development of the new Russia-China powerblock was set to put the two economic heavyweights on a path to confrontation with much of the rest of the world.
Speaking at Making Sense Of The Future, a conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) at Gleneagles, Ferguson also warned that unless Iran suspends its nuclear weapons programme a full-scale war in the Middle East is inevitable.
“I believe that Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin is about to have his Molotov-Ribbentrop moment,” said Ferguson, referring to the pre-second world war non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. “He’s going to realise that Moscow and Beijing can have a new and meaningful partnership.”
Ferguson also warned that the West had to sit up and take notice of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation. The SCO was officially founded in 2001 as a counterpart to Nato and the European Union. Aside from China and Russia its members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Ferguson said that the SCO had sneaked “under the radar” of the West, and its activities should be carefully monitored. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Asia, Beijing, Berlin, Georgia, Middle East, Moscow, Niall Ferguson, nuclear weapons, Russia, soviet russia, Ukraine, US, vladimir putin, war in the middle east
ISN Security Watch has an article addressing Cuba’s international relations leverage and foreign investment:
When Russian daily Izvestia reported on 21 July that Russian Tu-160 and Tu-95MS bombers had landed in Cuba, it set off a sprint in Washington as analysts and military leaders struggled to understand the situation.
At first, it appeared that Moscow had made a very serious gesture. Russia’s perceived geopolitical maneuver in Cuba, many thought, was in response to the US’ plans for an anti-missile shield defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.
By 24 July, after three days of media hype and speculation over Russia’s true intentions, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Ilshat Baichurin, dismissed any intention for a strategic deployment in Cuba.
Two events quickly followed up this announcement. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin arrived in Cuba on 30 July for extended talks with Raul and Fidel Castro. A former KGB operative and known confidant of now-Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Sechin was an active operative during the Cold War and enjoyed a deep relationship with the Castros.
Putin then followed up Sechin’s visit with a 5 August announcement that Russia ought to “restore [its] position in Cuba and other countries.”
Observers agree a military presence in Cuba is not in Moscow’s best interests; rather, closer economic ties would behoove both nations. Sechin’s recent visit underlines the latter observation and coaxes Washington into a more open posture toward Cuba, an island nation the next US presidential administration would likely prefer not to lose again to the Russians. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Caribbean, Castros, Cuba, Czech Republic, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, East European, Havana, Moscow, Poland, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Raul Castro, Russia, russian defense ministry, US, Washington, Western Hemisphere
By Jerry Brewer via Mexidata.info
Totalitarian dictatorships still exist and, as a matter of fact, they are very much alive in Latin America. Democracies throughout the Americas must immediately address their governments’ counterintelligence missions, and their strategic long and short range vision to monitor aggression and other forms of insurgency within their homelands.
Cuba’s intelligence and spy apparatus has been described as a “contingency of very well-trained, organized and financed agents.” Too, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has adopted the previous Soviet-styled Cuban intelligence service (DGI) as his model for Venezuela’s security service, known as the DISIP, utilizing Cuban intelligence counterparts and advisors.
What is the history of Cuba’s communist trained spies?
Cuba has trained thousands of communist guerrillas and terrorists, and has sponsored violent acts of aggression and subversion in most democratic nations of the southwestern hemisphere. U.S. government studies within the intelligence community documented a total of 3,043 international terrorist incidents in the decade of 1968 to 1978. Within that study, “over 25 percent occurred in Latin America.”
Recent reports are that Cuba has been expanding intelligence operations in the Middle East and South Asia. This reported by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency.
Cuba has consistently maintained a well-organized and “ruthless” intelligence presence within Mexico, as have the Russians. Much of their activity involved in U.S. interests that include recruiting disloyal U.S. military, government, and “private sector specialists. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Colombia, communist guerrillas, Cuba, Defense Intelligence Agency, Ecuador, guerrillas and terrorists, Hugo Chavez, intelligence operations, intelligence service, international terrorist incidents, Latin America, mexican drug cartels, Mexico, Middle East, middle eastern terrorists, narcoterrorism, Peru, President Hugo Chavez, President Rafael Correa, South Asia, subversion, totalitarian dictatorships, US, Venezuela
The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Armando Valladares, author of Against All Hope which details his harrowing twenty-two year imprisonment as a political prisoner of the Cuban government:
In late December 1959, nearly a year after Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista had been run out the country by a movement that had a goal of restoring the 1940 Cuban constitution, Fidel Castro was tightening his grip.
At the time, Armando Valladares was a 22-year-old government bureaucrat at the Post Office Savings Bank. One day a group from the Communist Party showed up in his office and put a sign on his desk that read “If Fidel is a communist, put me on the list. He’s got the right idea.”
Castro had not yet made public his communist intentions. But Mr. Valladares says that “the sign was part of the campaign by the party and by Fidel to prepare the population for communism, which most knew little about. The idea was that since Fidel had already made his name synonymous with the Cuban messiah, he must be right about communism.”
Mr. Valladares told his visitors that he didn’t want that sign on his desk. “Five or six days later, in the wee hours of the morning, they came to my house. My mother’s room was closest to the front door so she heard the knock and got up to see who was there. When she opened the door, the men pushed her out of the way and rushed into the house. I awoke with a machine gun against my temple.”
The young Valladares had a lot of company. Thousands were being rounded up. Some waited months for their trials. Many others were immediately marched before firing squads.
Mr. Valladares got his day in court within the week. The judge, he says, sat with his feet up on the desk reading a comic book and making jokes. The search of his home had produced “no evidence, no weapons, no propaganda opposing the state.” Nevertheless he was convicted as a potential conspirator against the Revolution and sentenced to 30 years. His cell mates applauded the decision, because the only other possible sentence was the death penalty.
Tags: Felipe Gonz, Fidel Castro, Geneva, Havana, imprisonment, Miami, Mr. Valladares, Pedro Luis Boitel, Spain, US, Venezuela
Spanish daily Diario Exterior reports:
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.
[H/T: La Nueva Cuba]
[Photo: AP]
Tags: Colombia, Cuba, Cuban Government, Cuban intelligence, Cuban intelligence operatives, Cuban-Venezuelan intelligence, Directorate of Intelligence (DI), Ecuador, Fidel Castro, Government, Hugo Chavez, Intelligence, International Relations, President Hugo Chavez, Rafael Correa, Security, US, Venezuela, Western Hemisphere
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