Editorial Capitán San Luis La Habana, Cuba, 2007 Translation: Ana V. Portela Edition: Iraida Aguirrechu Nuñez Cover design and graphics: Eugenio Sagués Díaz Computer production: Zoe Cesar Cardoso © Author group © On the present edition: Editorial Capitán San Luis, 2007 ISBN: 978-959-211-316-9 Editorial Capitán San Luis. Ave. 25 no. 3406 entre 34 y 36, Playa, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba All rights reserved. Without prior authorization from this Editorial, the partial or total reproduction of this work, including its cover design, or its transmission in any way or by any means, is totally forbidden. Table of contents Prologue Gerardo Hernández Nordelo / 7 Esteban Ventura Novo: The man in the white suit Heriberto Rosabal / 11 Rafael Díaz-Balart y familia: Souls on auction Mercedes Alonso y Pedro A. García / 33 Orlando Piedra: Batista’s goldenman Ciro Bianchi Ross / 45 Rolando Masferrer Rojas: The “tiger”blew up in pieces! Amaury E. del Valle / 65 List of other well-known henchmen of the Batista dictatorship who found refuge in the United States / 85 Andrés Nazario Sargén: There will be deeds of blood Pedro de la Hoz / 95 Orlando Bosch Ávila: He has hundreds of deaths on his conscience José Antonio Fulgueiras / 115 Guillermo Novo Sampoll: I am not a terrorist! Manuel Hevia Frasquieri / 131 Pedro Crispín Remón Rodríguez: hired assassin of the black mask Manuel Hevia Frasquieri / 155 Luis Zúñiga Rey: “He is our son of a bitch...” Luis Báez / 163 Ramón Saúl Sánchez Rizo: “Peace-lover”and“democrat”who has spent 40 years planting bombs Lázaro Barredo / 175 Some thing more about the terrorist René González Sehwerert / 189 Leonel Macías González Treason in the channel. Deth in the 50-34 Ileana García / 197 Rodolfo Frómeta: Frómeta and F-4: agenetic cross of terrorism Joel García / 209 Luis Posada Carriles: The Devil breets them and de devil Unites them Juan Carlos Rodríguez Cruz / 223 A kind of eilogue René González Sehwerert / 239 About the authors / 247 Prologue Gerardo Hernández Nordelo I will never forget the first time I was able to get hold of some old copies of Bohemia magazine published right after the victory of the Revolution. The magazine denounced the crimes committed by the Batista dictatorship and contained the most horrific images I had ever seen. The bodies of youths riddled with bullets, the mutilated backs of persons who had been tortured and would always bear the scars of the blows and burns they had received; instruments used by henchmen of the regime to pull out nails, crush fingers and apply electricity to the genitals of their prisoners. My childish innocence did not allow me to comprehend that human beings could commit such abhorrent actions. I was far from imagining that years later, I would be entrusted with a mission in Florida and faced with the unpleasant experience of actually having to see and hear some of those assassins and others as despicable The authors of these atrocities were welcomed, given shelter and made heroes once they reached Miami. In the same way, they turned anti-Cuban terrorists and criminals into “Anti-Cas- tro activists” or “freedom fighters” immediately upon their arrival to the United States. Even though this may seem incredible, these people proudly describe there past feats and announce their future plans to the media, especially on certain radio stations in Florida. They consider pre-revolutionary Cuba a “paradise” to which they eagerly aspire to return some day. Many have openly confessed they were part of the Batista regime and shamelessly proclaim 7 that they will resort to “harsh methods” in order to make Castro’s followers “toe the line” and thereby recover their luxurious properties and take over government positions that they have divvied up among themselves more than once. Some of these individuals managed to escape justice and died peacefully of old age. While for others, their only punishment was not to be able to return to the country they plundered and survived to witness the development and advancement of our revolutionary process. Many assassins and torturers have gone unpunished throughout successive presidential administrations that protected them despite the many crimes they committed in this country. Many Americans and other foreign nationals who reside in Miami would be horrified if they knew who that kindly old man sitting next to them in the doctor’s office really is; or that man, perhaps not as old, they often see in supermarkets or that public figure, with his aura of innocence and humanitarian disguise who always appears in the news. But there they are and nobody bothers them. They are the “illustrious guests” of the same country that accuses Cuba of harboring terrorists. Meanwhile, many families in our country evoke memories of their loved ones, victims of their crimes, with great sorrow and pain and yet their cry for justice remains unheard. In order to refresh the memory of those who cast false accusations against Cuba, so that the world may learn the truth and our people never forget this book by the Editorial Capitán San Luis and a group of prominent writers is an important contribution to the struggle against terrorism. This is a terrorism that the “free ” and “world-wide” press has been forbidden to talk about. Gerardo Hernández Nordelo Victorville Federal Prison, California January 12, 2005 8 Esteban Ventura Novo: The Man in the White Suit Heriberto Rosabal While our trial was underway in this courtroom, Esteban Ventura Novo passed away in Miami and I am bringing this up because I believe it is symbolic of something. [..] When the Revolutionary Government took power in Cuba, Ventura Novo and others like him, perpetrators of crimes against the Cuban people, were received and sheltered by this country’s government. Many of them were advised, directed and financed by U.S. intelligence agencies, in their dirty war against a government that obviously enjoyed and continues to enjoy the support of its people. Fernando González Llort1 Corporal Caro, one of the assassins under the orders of Colonel Esteban Ventura Novo, was sentenced to death after the triumph of the Revolution. Among the charges presented against him were the detention and eventual disappearance of Lidia Doce y Clodomira Ferrals, two messengers of the Rebel Army who were arrested in Havana on September 12, 1958. During the trial, Caro recounted the horrors to which these two heroic women were submitted: [...] From Juanelo they were taken to the 11th police precinct ...on the 13th, Ventura ordered me to fetch them and I took 1One of the five Cubans imprisoned by the empire. Fernando Gonzalez Llort and his comrades, Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Ramon Labañino Salazar and Rene Gonzalez Schwerert, are currently serving harsh sentences in a U.S. prison following a rigged trial during which the Miami Cuban counterrevolutionary mafia exercised its strong influence. Fernando was accused of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States; possession and use of forged identification documents and of being an unauthorized foreign agent, although his «real» crime was to keep the Cuban authorities informed of the terrorists plans prepared by anti-Cuban counterrevolutionary organizations based in the United States against which the latter government does not take any action. 11 them to the basement of the 9th precinct where Ariel Lima2 pushed them causing Lidia to fall flat on her face after which she could hardly stand up. Then he hit her with a club on the head. Her eyes almost bulged from their sockets when she hit the floor…The skinny one managed to break loose and threw herself at him, ripping his shirt and clawing her nails across his face. I tried to pull her of him and then she jumped on me, closing her legs around my waist and he had to pull her away by hitting her until she was knocked out. [...] The older one, Lidia, could no longer speak, she only groaned. She was limping and in very bad condition. On the night of the 14th, Laurent called Ventura and asked him if the prisoners had talked to which he responded: “These animals have beaten them so badly to get them to talk that the older one is unconscious and the mouth of the younger one is all swollen and broken by the blows that you can only understand when she curses.” Laurent told him to send the women to him and Ventura sent them “temporarily” because they were his prisoners. We took the milk truck, which we used when we wanted to conceal the transfer of prisoners or bodies that were kept at the 10th precinct. [...] Laurent tortured them but could not make them utter a single word (this was during the early hours of the 15th) then the dying women were put on a boat that was docked at la Pun- tilla, behind the Castillo de la Chorrera, placed in sacks filled with rocks, repeatedly dumped into the water and taken out again to no avail, until they were finally cast into the sea. [...] During those years Havana, as had always, was a very active city, with a nightlife that would go on until dawn. The new ho- 2 Traitor to the 26th of July Movement who accepted the position of police lieutenant under the orders of Esteban Ventura Novo. He provided information that led to the arrests, and sometimes the deaths, of many of his former comrades-in-arms. After the triumph of the Revolution, he was arrested, tried and condemned to death by a firing squad. He confessed to having assassinated seven individuals, as was demonstrated during his trial, and to other crimes.