The Secretwar the Secretwar
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NEL(d THE SECRETWAR THE SECRETWAR CIA covert operations against Cuba 1959-62 By FabiSn Escalante Translated by Maxine Shaw Edited by Mirta Mufriz OCEAN PRESS ir X Contents X l'rcfac'e by Carlos Lechuga Cbaprcr 1 An ugly American 5 Cbaprcr 2 The Cover design by David SPratt Trujillo cons piracy t7 Cbapter 3 The plot 30 Copyright O 1995 Fabian Escalante Copyright @ 1995 Ocean Press Chaprcr 4 Operation 40 39 in a Chapter 5 Operation Pluto Atl rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored 60 form or by any means, electronic, retrieval system or transmitted in any Chaprcr 6 The empire strikes back: mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission Operations Patty and Liborio 87 of the publisher. Chapter 7 Operation Mongoose 101 ISBN r-875284-86-9 Chaptur I The conspirators tt4 First printed 1995 Cbapter 9 Executive Action 129 Chapter 10 Special Printed in Australia operarions 136 Epilogue 149 Published by Ocean Press, Cbronology t5t GPO Box 1}79,Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia Glossary 193 Index 196 Distributed in tbe Ilnited Sates by the Tdman Company, 131 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012, USA Distributed in Briain and. Europe by Central Books, 99 \flallis Road, London E9 5LN, Britain Distributed in Australia by Astam Books, 57-61John Street, Leichhardt, NS\f 2040, Australia Distributed in Cuba and Latin America by Ocean Press, Apartado 686, C.P. 11300, Havana, Cuba Distributed in Southem AfricabY Phambili Agencies, SlJeppe Street, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa trw' About tbe autbor Division General Fabiin Escalante Font was born in the city o[ I fuvana, cuba, in 1940. At a very young age To Teresitd, m! indcfatigable cornpanion who has helped me so macb he suffered persecution an-d imprisoned in this underuking; _w1 for his ,.tiriti., against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. vith the trir-pi of the to my cbildren Raill and Cdsar, atbo assisted uirh revolutionary movement in lg5g, he joined the ,r.*ly-.reated their opinions; Strrte Security forces, where he carried out varied activities against counterrevolutionary organizations and the central Inteflfience to Etcbeaerry, Roquc and Rarn6n, whose colhboration uas Agency of the United srares, including the laffer,s op.r:rtio, inoaluable; AM/LASH. He directed the investigations which the cuban governmenr to MirU, Daoid., Deborab and Luisito, athose adoice, sugestions and carried our ar the request of the u.S. House of Rep"resentatives personal ,ffort as tbe editors and publishets ans crucial; select committee when the investigation into the ,rorrirrrtion of President F. Kennedy was andfi.nally, to my comradcs in struggle, the ttac heroes of tbis epic. John reopened in 197g. Between 1976 and l9B2 he was chief of the State security l)epartment (G-2). He headed the Political Office of the Interior Ministry from 1985 ro l9B9; was e member of the central Committee from 1980 to l99l; and a deputy in the National Assembly until 1992. He is presently an adrrisei to the Minister of the Interior. ln l99l and 1992 he formed part of the cuban delegation that attended the tripanite meetings (Soviet union-USA-cuia) in Antigua and Havana ro discuss and analyze the antecedenrs, cruses and consequences of the Missile crisis of octob er 1962. ln 1992 he published Gir6n, la gran conjura [The Bay of pigs, the great conspiracy], where he ialyzed ih. s.rb.,rersive evenrs that led up ro the mercenary invasion in April 196r. ln 1993 he published his second book, cuba: La guerra secreta de la CIA lcuba, the secrer war of the cIA], which-narrares the main subversive activities of the united states against cuba in the period from 1959 to 1962. This is a translatiln of his revised version of that book. He has contribured to other nationd publications and has given lectures on these topics. Preface here are two aspects to the united States' war of aggresslon against cuba, a war which has persisted for more than a third of-a century and ofren *iiho.rt clearly rlefined limits.-Firstly, there is the clandestine offensirr., d.rlribrd i, Brear demil by one of the major players in the conflict, J)ivision General Fabiin Escalanre,' .t i.r of a cuban counterinrelligence unit in the period recounted in this book, and lnter head of the cuban Sate Security Department. This is the hist.ry of the United Srares' crarrdlstine actions against the triumphanr revolurion on the neighboring island with Ih. ,ir' of resubmitting it to the poritical, -Ili rry and economic rl.mination ro which it nra been subject since the sf*irr, c,loaial power was overrhrown at the .rri of the 19th c.rrtrrry. '"rrdIt ir the dark chapter. dealing with subversive op.rrtiorr, conspiracies to launch military attacks by air, land and sea; of infiltration jh. by cIA agenrs for purpose of .o*-itting sabotage lnd attempting ro assassinate the *o* well-known leaders of the revolution, above all, Fidel castro. It is the srory of the complicity and submission of other Latin America, gor.rrrmenrs rrnd. the vassalage of discontented elemenrs in cuba ii the senrice of the imperidist plans against their own counrry. The other aspecr of this dl-out war is the dipromatic intrigue; the economic blockade which seeks ro srarye ih. p.opl.-oi'tt. island into surrender; the propaganda and diri.rforrrration eampaigns waged by the media .rrrd.r the direct or indirect eontrol of the unired States; and the use of international F@ 2 The secret war CIA covert operations against Cuba I 959_62 'l'hc only organizations to isolate the Cuban revolution in hope of leaving it variation, in deference to the different permurations of tJ.s. domesric defenseless and weakened as a prelude to a final bellicose act. policy, has been the rhetori. .rr.i against cuba, romerimes In essence, these two methods of war overlap, although their strident and vicious and orher times l"o*_k.y and m,derate, connection is not always publicly clear. As this book recalls, while the cIA has been ever-present in one form or when the U.S. Senate established the Central Intelligence Agency rn,ther ar the head or behind the attacks *ff.r.d by cuba. giving These pages in 1947, the National Security Council issued a directive . tell the real story of the cIA op.rrtiorrs against as ouba the Agency the authority to cerry out covert actions, defined in the first years after the triumph of tlie revolutiln in "activity which is meant to further the sponsoring nation's 1959, when the United States n rrr.d "ll its force ,g;;;, the foreign policy objectives, and to be concealed in order to permit island. The facts herein are based on documents taken from (luban the that nation to piausibly deny responsibility."l In the case of State Security files and others declassified by ,h.-i.rrra lntelligence Cuba, however, due to the hysteria which has always Agency itself. But these dramatic deeds do not read like a dry legal accompanied the U.S. policy, rarely if ever has any of this record, since the text transcends rhe clamor of the - - struggle aggression been able to be presented as accePtable policy in the between the great aggressive power and the narion which is its intended light of international law, treaty commitments signed by the victim. The confessior* of the leaders of these u.s.- the backed_operations United States, the principles and stipulations of the Charter of come alive on these pages, especially when one Organization of American States. rcrmembers that, after United Nations or the regional all, the war is rr* |., over. The book also sheds The various U.S. administrations have never been able to deny light on the intelligence duer b.t*.., the two conrenders, rn their responsibility in the implementation of this policy against one case ro put into pracdce its aggressive and destabilizing p.licy; Cuba. Moreover, not only have they been unable to deny it, but and in the other rhe .ro.-orrs effons ro prorect itself their intentions have always been quickly unmasked, leaving no fromthe rraps and trick ery ofthe adversary. The story valid justification for their illegal acts, in clear opposition to told in this book has the ,irr.r. of presenting the concrere international public opinion. facts without glossing them over or touching thern,ip o, prcsenting From the inception of this policy of aggression, both the them second hand. The author narrates the even6 executive orders of the Vhite House and the laws passed through exactly as they occurred, with all the force which ,prir,gr-from the Congress have had their counterparts in the CIA plans and th.e very sources of the proragonists in the dispur".'riJ presidential who infihrated "g.rrr, vice versa. It is not clear whether these laws and the .o"it, oi crrb, in order ro organize an orders were based on the subversive plans of the CIA or whether insurrection parade rhrough this rexr, along with th. p"i.rrrrior* .[ cuban security the CIA's plans were in response to the presidential orders and agents into the enemy"gro.rp, organized one after Congressional bills. There is no doubt, however, that the CIA has the other by the cIA, frustratini i"b""rsive" plrn after served as the launch pad of a huge plan conceived for the purpose subversive plan. A clear picture emerges lf ,h. infighdng ,-orrg of destroying the Cuban revolution, and this book provides the the various secrors of tL" cIA whilh supporred the different counterrevolutionary facts to prove this point.