Cubazuela: Chronicle of a Cuban Intervention Juan Antonio Blanco /Rolando Cartaya Luís Domínguez / Casto Ocando Published by Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba Miami, Florida www.fhrcuba.org © 2019, Juan Antonio Blanco © 2019, Rolando Cartaya © 2019, Luis Domínguez © 2019, Casto Ocando © 2019, Cover Photo: Andres Gerlotti © 2019, This edition: Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba April 2019 All rights reserved Printed in the United States ISBN-13: 978-1-7339274-1-3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 7 Overall Conclusions ................................................................................................ 9 What are we dealing with in Venezuela? ................................................................................ 9 What instruments does the international community have in the face of this situation? ........ 9 Is there a risk of internationalizing the conflict?................................................................... 10 Should the use of force, or even threat of use of force, be excluded, thus limiting all efforts to working on a negotiated political solution?...................................................... 10 Cubazuela: Cuba’s Model of Colonial Domination ........................................... 13 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 13 Make sure to address the right questions and beware of deliberate disinformation ................. 15 Manipulating public anxieties, language, and perceptions ................................................... 15 Cuba’s colonial model .............................................................................................................. 17 Definition and functions of Venezuela’s colonial status ...................................................... 17 Cuba: the "jinetero" (pimp) state and its colony Cubazuela ................................................. 18 Cubazuela: two strategic functions of the Cuban colony ...................................................... 20 The Cuban Mission in Venezuela and its tools for interference ........................................... 21 The Achilles Heel of the Cuban Colonial Model ..................................................................... 22 Conclusion: Totalitarian and Democratic Realpolitiks ............................................................. 23 Totalitarian Realpolitik ......................................................................................................... 23 Democratic Realpolitik ......................................................................................................... 24 There is a military invasion going on in Venezuela, and it came from Cuba ......................................................................................... 27 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 27 An exceptional witness: General Antonio Rivero .................................................................... 32 “Motherland, Socialism, or Death” ....................................................................................... 33 The GRUCE is born .................................................................................................................. 36 Cuban Major General Ermio Hernández .................................................................................. 39 Cuban Major General Leonardo Andollo ................................................................................. 39 The GRUCE plans for… today? ............................................................................................... 42 ¿“Civilian” aid workers? ........................................................................................................... 44 The GRUCES’s top brass ......................................................................................................... 45 Cuban Army Corps General Joaquín Quintas Solá .................................................................. 47 Venezuela, G-2’s laboratory for repression .............................................................................. 50 Shot in the face ...................................................................................................................... 51 Shot in the head ..................................................................................................................... 52 The colectivos: bike-riding death squads .................................................................................. 56 Cuban Brigadier General Alejandro Ronda Marrero ................................................................ 57 Cubazuela’s branch of Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior ............................................................ 60 Counterintelligence at the top ............................................................................................... 62 “The comrade who handles me” ........................................................................................... 62 Divide, discredit, indict, “neutralize”.................................................................................... 63 Cuban Black Wasps at the Colombian border .......................................................................... 65 Speaking out amounts to “treason to the Motherland” ............................................................. 66 To the core ................................................................................................................................ 68 Cubans in Venezuela ............................................................................................. 71 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 71 History ...................................................................................................................................... 72 Joint operations ......................................................................................................................... 72 Geographical location/Cubans in Venezuela ............................................................................ 74 Rings of protection ................................................................................................................ 74 White Palace/Miraflores ....................................................................................................... 75 CESPPA ................................................................................................................................ 75 ZODI/REDI/Military Barracks ............................................................................................. 76 ZODI/Military garrisons ....................................................................................................... 77 Cubans at Fort Tiuna ............................................................................................................. 79 Military chiefs at Fort Tiuna and their relationship with the Cubans ................................... 81 Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) ........................................................................................ 82 Special Action Forces (FAES) .............................................................................................. 82 Bolivarian Militias ................................................................................................................ 83 Collectives/Francisco de Miranda Front ............................................................................... 83 Cubans and torture ................................................................................................................ 85 Chancery ............................................................................................................................... 86 Social Missions ..................................................................................................................... 86 Cuba and drug-trafficking in Venezuela ................................................................................... 87 Money laundering ................................................................................................................. 89 The Caracas-Havana drug connection .................................................................................. 90 About the Authors ................................................................................................. 93 Acknowledgements This work has been possible thanks to the information gathered from both public and confidential sources, many of which were obtained directly in Venezuela by a group of journalists and academic researchers, whom we do not mention for security reasons. It also adds the privileged information contributed by Venezuelan high-officers, who generously shared their knowledge and gave testimonies to the authors, including General Antonio Rivero and Colonel Julio Rodríguez Salas. Last but not least important for the accomplishment of this report was the meticulous work of investigation in Internet by Luis Domínguez, that contributed photos, videos and personal backgrounds of some of the main Cuban officers investigated. This research was assisted by Hugo Achá, a Washington D.C. based and well-known expert in regional defense and security