Note: We have been informed that in the next few days the Obama administration

will remove Cuba from the State Department's list of terrorist countries. Despite
the undisputed evidence that the Castro regime supports terrorist groups and
countries and harbors terrorist fugitives from the U.S., Spain and other countries,
the U.S. administration is willing to overlook the evidence in its quest to appease
the Castro dictatorship. A month ago, we published the following Cuba Focus
highlighting Cuba's continuous involvement with and support for terrorist groups.
We are re-sending that report in the hope that the administration may reconsider.
JS

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Issue 238
March 4, 2015

Jaime Suchlicki*

Cubas Continuous Support for Terrorism

Iran, Cuba and Venezuela have developed a close and cooperative relationship against the
U.S. and in support of terrorist groups and states. The three regimes increasingly coordinate
their policies and resources in a three way partnership aimed at counteracting and
circumventing U.S. policies in the Middle East and Latin America. Within this relationship,
Cuba plays a strategic role in terms of geography (proximity to the U.S.), intelligence

gathering (both electronic eavesdropping and human espionage) and logistics.

In addition to its proven technical prowess to interfere and intercept U.S.
telecommunications, Cuba has deployed around the world a highly effective human
intelligence network. The type of espionage carried out by Ana Beln Montes, the senior
U.S. defense intelligence analyst who spied for Cuba during some 16 years until her arrest
in 2001, has enabled the Castro regime to amass a wealth of intelligence on U.S.
vulnerabilities as well as a keen understanding of the inner-workings of the U.S. security
system.
Such information and analysis was provided to Saddam Hussein prior to the U.S. invasion
of Iraq and is being provided to a strategic ally like Iran. While one may argue that factors
such as Irans limited military capabilities and sheer distance diminish any conventional
concerns, one should expect that Tehran, in case of a U.S.-Iran conflict would launch an
asymmetrical offensive against the U.S. and its European allies through surrogate terrorist
states and paramilitary organizations. In such a scenario, Cuban intelligence would be
invaluable to Iran and its proxies and Cuban territory could be used by terrorist groups to
launch operations against the U.S.
In specific terms Cuba has not abandoned its support for terrorist groups and states:

Cuba directly and through Venezuela continues to provide intelligence to Hamas and
Hezbollah.

Two Arab shiites, Ghazi Nasr Al din and Fawzi Kanaan have set-up shop in Caracas,
Venezuela under the protection of the Venezuelan government. Working in
coordination with the Cuban government, both are active in promoting Hezbollah
and Iranian targets in South America and against the U.S. They fundraise for
Hezbollah, facilitate travel for Hezbollah activists to Venezuela and through
Venezuela to other countries. This is all part of the strategic alliance between
Venezuela, Cuba and Iran.

Cuban military officers are acting as liaison between Venezuelan military and the
narco-guerrillas of the Colombian FARC. Cuban General Leonardo Ramon Andollo,
Chief of Operations of the Cuban MINFAR (Ministry of the Armed Forces), has
visited Venezuela and acted as a go between the Cuban and Venezuelan military
involved in drug trafficking. (1)

Current and former members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), a Basque
terrorist organization continue to reside in Cuba. While some of these terrorists are
on the island as part of an accord between the Cuban and Spanish governments,
others are hiding in Cuba, fugitives of Spanish justice. In February 2015, the Spanish
government requested one more time the extradition from Cuba of two ETA
terrorists, Jose Angel Urtiaga Martinez and Jose Ignacio Etxarte Urbieta. The two
have lived in Cuba since the 1980s and are wanted by Spanish Justice. In addition to

these two there are four other ETA members living in Cuba: two with the knowledge
of the Spanish government and two, Miguel Angel Apalategui "Apala" and Joseba
Sarrionandia, without Cuba admitting that they are in the island.

The FBI estimates that Cuba has provided safe harbor to dozens of fugitives from
U.S. justice who live on the island under the protection of the Castro regime. Some
of these fugitives are charged with or have been convicted of murder, kidnapping,
and hijacking, and they include notorious killers of police officers in New Jersey and
New Mexico, most prominent among them Joanne Chesimard, placed by the FBI in
2013 on the "Most Wanted Terrorist List." The FBI is offering one million dollars for
information leading to her apprehension.

Other terrorists fugitive of the U.S. living in Cuba include Ishmael LaBeet, one of
the five men convicted of the infamous Fountain Valley Massacre, a racially tinged
1972 armed robbery in the Virgin Islands that turned into mass murder, with eight
dead. William Morales, the master bomb-maker of the Puerto Rican separatist group
FALN, which set off 140 or so blasts around the United States during the 1970s and
1980s, killing at least six people. Victor Gerena, an armed robber working for
another Puerto Rican separatist group, who is believed to have taken the proceeds of
a $7 million heist to Cuba with him. Charles Hill who in 1971 hijacked a civilian
plane carrying 49 passengers and fled to Cuba. Hill is also wanted for the 1971
murder of New Mexico State Police officer Robert Rosenbloom. Frank Terpil, a
former CIA officer and convicted arms trafficker who is wanted for providing more
than 20 tons of plastic explosives to the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

In mid-2013, the Castro regime was caught smuggling weapons out of Cuba on a
North Korean vessel in violation of UN sanctions. Cuba lied to the international
community about the content of the vessel. The official UN Report on "Cuba-North
Korea Illegal Weapons Trafficking," published in March 2014, revealed "a
comprehensive, planned strategy to conceal the existence and nature of the cargo."
The Report concluded, contrary to Cuba's allegations, that "some, if not all, of the
consignment was not expected to be returned to Cuba."

In 2014 former Cuban intelligence official, Uberto Mario, described how the Castro
regime is training Venezuelan "Tupamaros," pro-Maduro groups who violently
attack Venezuelan students.

Managed by Cubans and Venezuelans sympathetic to Cuba, Venezuela's immigration

system, "Misin Identidad," facilitates the entry of Cuban agents into Venezuela.
Cubans also control SAIME (Servicio de Identificacion, Migracion y Extranjeria,
Caracas) which facilitates the travel of drug organizations, Colombian guerrillas, and
Islamist terrorists. Cuba also has on the island duplicate Venezuelan forms and
stamps to issue passports and identifications to these groups.

Warranting special mention are the outstanding U.S. indictments against Cuban Air

Force pilots Lorenzo Alberto Prez-Prez, Francisco Perez Perez and General Rubn
Martnez Puente, the head of the Cuban Air Force, who in 1996 shot down two
unarmed civilian American aircraft over international waters in the Florida Straits.
That act of terrorism, ordered by Fidel and Raul Castro, killed four men, three of
them American citizens. The Castro brothers personally accepted responsibility for
the shot-down.

In 2014 the Castro government decreed that it would now begin to freeze bank assets
affiliated to Al-Qaeda in Cuba. The Castro regime thus tacitly admitted that they had
been facilitating financing of terrorism.

"Hezbollah in Cuba," the Hamas-funded Turkish "charity" known as IHH continues

to operate in Havana. IHH is a member of the "Union of Good," an umbrella
organization that financially supports Hamas.

Iran's President has emphasized that "the Islamic Republic of Iran and Cuba can play
a significant role in international organizations. Tehran and Havana share common
viewpoints in major international issues."

In 2014 Cuban First Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade described Iran as a "strategic
partner" of Cuba.

On November 13, 2013 "Prensa Islamica" published an article on Cuba-Iran growing

relationship. The article explains that Cuba has shared with Iran its "vast knowledge
on intelligence" and has discussed cooperation "on electromagnetic weapons capable
of sabotaging enemy communications."

In an attempt to obtain unilateral concession from the U.S., Gen. Raul Castros regime has
toned down some of the violent anti-U.S. propaganda of older brother Fidel. Yet his
commitments to and interrelationships with anti-American terrorist groups have not
disappeared. They have taken a more sophisticated approach; many times using proxies
such as Venezuelan supporters.
_________________________________________________
Notes
(1) See Pedro Roig, "Venezuela-Cuba Military Cooperation and the Narco-Terrorsit
Connection." Cuba Focus. Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies, University of
Miami. March 18, 2014.
_________________________________________________
**Foreign intelligence services have provided information for this report.

_________________________________________________
*Jaime Suchlicki is Emilio Bacardi Moreau Distinguished Professor and Director, Institute
for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami. He is the author of Cuba:
From Columbus to Castro, now in its fifth edition; Mexico: From Montezuma to the Rise of
PAN, now in its second edition and the recently published Breve Historia de Cuba.
_________________________________________________

The CTP can be contacted at P.O. Box 248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel:
305-284-CUBA (2822), Fax: 305-284-4875, and by email at ctp.iccas@miami.edu. The
CTP Website is accessible at http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu.