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(3:54)
A look at how the Cuban military helped drug traffickers do their business, and
how Fidel Castro may have given the orders.
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#910
Original Air Date: February 5, 1991
Written, Produced, and Directed by Stephanie Tepper and William Cran
ANNOUNCER:
In Havana last fall, Fidel Castro boasted that there was hardly any country
less hospitable to drug trafficking than Cuba. But tonight, through DEA
surveillance tapes and interviews with former Cuban officials and drug-runners,
FRONTLINE investigates how Castro used drug smuggling as a political weapon.
RACHEL EHRENFELD, Author, "Narco-Terrorism":
The Cubans will help them to transfer drugs to the United States and in return,
bring arms to the communist insurgencies that the Cubans were supporting in
Latin America.
ANNOUNCER: Last year, in a drug-smuggling show trial, Castro
betrayed two of his closest associates and sentenced them to death.
ROGER FONTAINE, Adviser, National Security Council, 1981-1983:
If he is willing to jettison his closest friends, who's safe in Cuba? And I
think that has very serious implications for the regime and himself.
ANNOUNCER:
How did drugs corrupt Castro's revolution? Tonight on FRONTLINE, "Cuba and
Cocaine."
NARRATOR:
Off the coast of Florida, U.S. Customs practice tracking a suspect plane. Small
aircraft like this are the workhorses of the Colombian cocaine trade. The
Customs plane sneaks in behind the bandit's tail, where he can't be seen, and
waits for him to make the drop. This is the story of how, for 10 years, part of
this narcotics traffic has passed through Cuba.
Since the triumph of his revolution over 30 years ago, Fidel Castro has laid
claim to a higher morality. Castro says drugs, like gambling and prostitution,
have been stamped out in Cuba. But abroad it now appears that Castro may have
allowed drugs to be used as a weapon in his war against Yankee imperialism.
Little Havana, Miami: Hard evidence that Cuba was involved in the drug trade
came to light here. In 1987, agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency were staking
out this corner. Two gangs were under surveillance-the Ceballoses from Colombia
and a family of Cuban-Americans called Ruiz.
THOMAS MULVIHILL, Assistant U.S. Attorney:
Unbeknownst to either the Ceballos or the Ruiz organization, individuals had
infiltrated both of those organizations and by taping their phone
conversations, wearing body wires and also setting up a video surveillance
operation, they were able to get the Ruizes and the Ceballoses discussing their
operation through Cuba.
1st GANG MEMBER:
A different runway in Colombia but the same runway in Cuba?
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Yeah.
1st GANG MEMBER:
Yeah?
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Yeah.
1st GANG MEMBER:
The Cubans?
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Listen, we're going on Wednesday.
Mr. MULVIHILL:
The difference in the Ruiz and the Ceballos case from what you commonly see as
far as narcotics trafficking was the ability to transship through Cuba, which
would be the most ideal place for a narcotics trafficker to operate in.
NARRATOR:
The man who set up the deal that made transshipments through Cuba possible was
Reinaldo Ruiz. He could do this because he had connections inside the Cuban
government.
1st GANG MEMBER:
Castro couldn't let something like that leak out.
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Yeah.
1st GANG MEMBER:
Because then they're going to really come down on Cuba.
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Anyway, who's going to believe the smuggler? You know what I mean? Think about
it.
1st GANG MEMBER:
I thought you've got to have connections.
Mr. MULVIHILL:
Reinaldo Ruiz had relatives and connections in the Cuban government to
guarantee the security of the shipments when they moved through Cuba, so they
worked with Reinaldo Ruiz to move several of their shipments through the island
of Cuba.
NARRATOR:
Until he died of a heart attack on New Year's Eve, Reinaldo Ruiz had been
serving a 17-year prison sentence for drug trafficking. He thought the sentence
too harsh. To get it reduced, he'd offered U.S. authorities information on five
other drug smugglers who, like him, had Cuban connections.
REINALDO RUIZ, Convicted Narcotics Trafficker:
Every time that I went over there, I was completely sure that I was a 100
percent backing, all the way to the top, otherwise I never, ever touch a thing
out there.
When you go to a place, an office, and everything is resolved, everything is
taken care and people play with cocaine like it was mangoes and oranges or
whatever, you know-I mean, you know that everything is controlled.
NARRATOR:
Everything may have been under control in Cuba, but in Miami a camera was
recording as Reinaldo Ruiz and his son Ruben plotted how to refuel a drug plane
in Cuba.
REINALDO RUIZ:
Well, let me tell you something. How about if I get permission to refuel down
there in Cuba?
RUBEN RUIZ:
Son of a bitch, I was going to ask you that right now.
GANG MEMBER:
Yes, that would be the best.
RUBEN RUIZ:
That would be the best.
GANG MEMBER:
That would be best. That would be best.
NARRATOR:
This is how Reinaldo set up the drug run. First, a boat crossed the Florida
straits. It made landfall on the Cuban coast at a port called Varadero, not far
from this lighthouse. Apparently, everything had been arranged in advance. Ruiz
says he was expected by a Cuban coast guard colonel.
INTERVIEWER:
Colonel who?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Pardo.
INTERVIEWER:
And, who was he?
REINALDO RUIZ:
The chief of command of the naval operations in Varadero.
INTERVIEWER:
And he knew about your operation?
REINALDO RUIZ:
He was informed that I was going to arrive, yes.
NARRATOR:
Behind the main harbor at Varadero is a secluded creek. The expensive pleasure
boats moored here include the high speed cigarette boats beloved of drug
smugglers. A small detachment of the Cuban coast guard keeps permanent watch
over these craft.
INTERVIEWER:
Did the coast guard help you when you arrived in Cuba?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Yes.
INTERVIEWER:
How? What did they do?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Well, they received me, put the boat in a place, in a safe place, you know, so
it cannot be found, take me to shore and make me contact with Padrone, Miguel
or Eduardo, if he was there at that time.
NARRATOR:
Meanwhile, Reinaldo's son Ruben was to collect the cocaine in Colombia and fly
it to Cuba. His Cuban contacts had given him a special call sign to use as he
approached Cuban airspace.
REINALDO RUIZ:
He is to have a number and that number authorized him to landing.
INTERVIEWER:
And how did he use the number? What exactly did you do?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Well, the, Cuba would ask for-you know, "This is AQ7 Santa Clara," whatever.
"OK, this is UPI 102." "OK, UPI 102. Keep going." That's it. No problem.
NARRATOR:
Ruiz says a Cuban air force colonel had cleared Ruben to fly through military
airspace.
REINALDO RUIZ:
He told him to fly all the way over the land. My son told me, "Well, I am
crossing all the western part of Cuba." "That doesn't matter. Don't worry about
it. Nobody will hurt you. The air force is at your service tomorrow."
NARRATOR:
On the surveillance tapes, Ruben is heard bragging about the help he got from
the Cuban air force.
RUBEN RUIZ:
Let me tell you something. This is something. I'm not lying to you. I've flown
to places in Cuba that nobody does. I'm talking military runways. I'm talking
camouflaged MiG-20's, MiG23's, OK?
NARRATOR:
Ruiz says when Ruben landed at Varadero, it was all out in the open. For the
airport officials, it seems, this was routine.
REINALDO RUIZ:
When the plane landed and they just move it to one wing of the airport, unload
it. They didn't pretend nothing. They didn't pretend nothing to the
authorities. They fill up the gasoline and then they went over there to the
cabin that we rented, enjoy of a bath, have a nice meal, rest. Next following
morning, boom, boom, boom and that's it.
NARRATOR:
Like other drug smugglers, Ruben was given the red carpet treatment.
RUBEN RUIZ:
And you sit on a table about half the size of this, your office here, where
you've got big pork legs, this big, and you've got big steaks, this big, and
you've got big things, this big, of rice for about
seven or eight guys, OK? Nobody eats that way over there.
NARRATOR:
While Ruben was enjoying lunch, Ruiz says armed Cuban personnel were unloading
the drugs.
INTERVIEWER:
How did they get the drugs from the airport to the seaport?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Through the airport to the seaport, they used to have a van that they used in
the transportation of those things.
INTERVIEWER:
Who provided the van?
REINALDO RUIZ:
The department, of course.
INTERVIEWER:
The department of the ministry of the interior?
REINALDO RUIZ:
Yeah. They put the merchandise on board and that was it.
NARRATOR:
Once the drugs were on board, Ruiz says a Cuban coast guard cutter escorted
their boat out to sea and after scanning the Gulf with its radar, gave the all
clear.
RUBEN RUIZ:
Would you believe me when I tell you something? You know the big military coast
guard boats, the ones that are equipped with all the radars and everything?
Cuba's got that and they scan the whole area out, man. And they tell you, "Go
this way," "go that way," you know?
NARRATOR:
Cuba had been linked to drug smuggling before, but had always dismissed the
accusations as American propaganda. But after the U.S. Coast Guard seized one
of his boats in 1988, Ruiz was arrested. It was now impossible for Cuba to
brush aside the evidence of the surveillance tapes and the political
implications of what was said on them.
1st GANG MEMBER:
He says the money from his last trip that was paid is in Fidel's drawer!
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Who?
1st GANG MEMBER:
Fidel Castro, damn it! Don't you know who Fidel is?
2nd GANG MEMBER:
Oh. Oh.
NARRATOR:
In Havana, the government had to be seen to act. Ruiz's co-conspirators were
rounded up and Cuba mounted the biggest state trial in 30 years. The entire
trial was videotaped and after a two-day delay for editing, was broadcast
nightly on Cuban TV. It is often referred to as the Ochoa Trial because the
most prominent defendant was Cuba's most successful general, Arnaldo Ochoa.
Ochoa's court martial and the subsequent trial certainly gave the appearance
that Cuba was cracking down on drugs. Ten of the accused were jailed for up to
30 years. Ochoa and three others faced the firing squad. The state prosecutor
was Juan Escalona.
JUAN ESCALONA, former Minister of Justice:
[through interpreter] Despite all our efforts, this was the first time we were
able to detect any evidence that Cuban personalities or Cuban authorities were
linked to drug-trafficking. It's something we've been accused of for many
years. However, we are convinced it was part of a campaign of disinformation
meant to discredit the Cuban revolution.
NARRATOR:
After the court martial had stripped Ochoa of his medals and rank, the main
trial began, but the conduct of the trial raises many questions, For example,
why was Ochoa sentenced to death when there was no evidence he smuggled drugs,
only that he conspired to attempt it? Why did his 13 fellow defendants all
waive their right to proper legal representation, make tearful confessions and
beg the court for the maximum sentence? Why were foreign observers banned by
the court?
ROGER FONTAINE, Adviser, National Security Council, 1981-1983:
The show trials in Havana lumped two people together-Tony de la Guardia and
Arnaldo Ochoa. In fact Arnaldo Ochoa, who was a hero of the revolution and a
hero of Cuba, a three-star general, a genuine military hero, had no involvement
in drugs. The trial was really about Tony de la Guardia and his involvement in
drugs. No question he was. He admitted it. He only thought that he had been
given orders from Fidel to do exactly that.
NARRATOR:
Colonel Tony de la Guardia had been a high-flying intelligence officer. The
question that goes to the heart of the trial was whether he and his
co-defendants had smuggled drugs as a form of covert action or, as the state
prosecutor alleged, were simply corrupt officials. The most dramatic moment of
the trial came when one of the accused, Miguel Ruiz Poo, testified. Miguel, a
distant cousin of the drug smuggler Reinaldo Ruiz, had been the government
official who had made Reinaldo's Cuban connection possible. The court heard
Miguel claim that Cuba's cocaine connection was approved at the top. If true,
this could have diminished his culpability, but none of the military officers
who were supposed to represent the accused made any attempt to develop this
line of defense. Under cross-examination, Miguel Ruiz would become almost
incoherent with fear.
MIGUEL RUIZ:
[through interpreter] Because everything I do, my boss checks at the highest
level. This is what Martinez said. One day, I also heard Eduardo saying in a
corridor, "Chico, I have the impression that this is at the highest level, that
this is at the highest level."
NARRATOR:
At this point the court adjourned while Ruiz received medical attention. Later
witnesses contradicted his story and the prosecution asserted that the
conspiracy was limited to Tony de la Guardia and his ring
Mr. ESCALONA:
[through interpreter] The only time we had any evidence that enabled us to
detect this problem was last year and not before because the previous
accusations were ridiculous. They've also accused Fidel Castro of being the
ring-leader of drug-trafficking in Cuba when Fidel Castro is our leader, our
director, our guide.
NARRATOR:
Since the trial, Castro has insisted that Tony de la Guardia was the beginning
and end of Cuba's involvement in drugs. What began in late 1986, he says, was
eliminated in 1989. "When it comes to narcotics trafficking, Cuba is clean."
FIDEL CASTRO:
[through interpreter] You will surely have noted that in the world, no country
is less attractive than ours to international narco-traffickers. Allow me to
take this opportunity to reiterate Cuba's total readiness to cooperate in all
serious and consistent efforts in the struggle against drug-trafficking.
NARRATOR:
But here in South Florida, the drug-busting pilots and investigators of U.S.
Customs believe that Cuba's involvement with drugs goes way back.
ROBERT KAMMER, U.S. Customs Special Agent:
There was certainly indications of Cuban involvement way before 1987. Going
back into the early '80s, there were cases involving the Cubans involved in
drug-trafficking into the U.S.
CONTROLLER:
Target at 75 Homestead 120. Ten-four.
NARRATOR:
For Cuba, geography is destiny. The drug planes from Colombia must cross the
Caribbean to reach Florida. The most direct route to the U.S. is over Cuba.
This short cut meant that small planes could fill up with drugs and not waste
valuable space on extra fuel. In the early '80s, U.S. patrol planes with their
infrared cameras were tracking drug planes bound for the Bahamas.
PILOT:
-2,700 feet in front of us, 8 knots closure. Feet wet. I've got a boat going
fast in the water!
NARRATOR:
They began to notice how some planes, like this one, would duck into Cuban air
space on their way to the drop. The traffic grew.
PILOT:
Feet dry, 3,000 feet in front of us, 13 knots closure. He's right on the nose.
Drop! Drop! Drop!
NARRATOR:
Suspicion hardened into certainty.
PILOT:
Still dropping! Still dropping!
Mr. KAMMER:
I believe, based on just experience and what I've seen, that it is very
difficult to assume that the Cubans don't know what's going on. It's just very,
very difficult because flight after flight after flight, overflying, dropping,
air drop after air drop after air drop inside the Cuban territorial waters.
NARRATOR:
In Washington a Senate subcommittee on narcotics traffic was hearing the same
story.
Sen. JOHN KERRY, (D-MA):
Were you also involved in the transshipment of narcotics through Cuba?
GEORGE MORALES, Convicted Narcotics Trafficker:
Yes.
Sen. KERRY:
And what period of time did you transship narcotics through Cuba?
Mr. MORALES:
[through Interpreter] Since 1980, '81 until 1985, '86.
NARRATOR:
The chief investigator for the Senate committee was Jack Blum.
JACK BLUM, Special Counsel, Senate, 1987-1989:
Well, the way this turned up was, we interviewed large numbers of people who
were drug smugglers and these guys would be telling us about various things
they'd done all over Central America-Panama, dealing in Costa Rica, dealings
with the contrast And a number of them, without us prompting or asking, would
then say, "And by the way, would you like to hear about our arrangements with
Cuba," and of course we did like to hear about those arrangements.
NARRATOR:
Blum's star witness was a former aide to Panama's General Noriega. Jose Blandon
attended meetings in Cuba with Fidel Castro and brought photographs to prove
it. Blandon claims that the Cubans were involved in drug-trafficking and that
Castro's motives were political.
JOSE BLANDON, former Consul General, Panama:
[through interpreter] Fidel Castro's theory with regard to this aspect is that
Colombia's political world-that if you want to have an influence on Colombia's
political world, you have to have an influence on the drug-trafficking world,
too.
NARRATOR:
Blandon accused Cuba of running drugs through Nicaragua and Panama as well as
Colombia.
Mr. BLANDON:
[through interpreter] In the case of Colombia, there is a link between
drug-trafficking and the guerrilla movement. And part of the coordination
movement is done by the Latin American department of the Communist Party of
Cuba.
NARRATOR:
Cuba's America Department is not part of the ministry of foreign relations but
a separate entity under the direct control of Fidel Castro. Dr. Rachel
Ehrenfeld of New York University is an acknowledged expert on the Cuban
government's involvement with narcotics and the part played by its Department
of America.
RACHEL EHRENFELD, Author, "Narco-Terrorism":
In 1974, the Department of the America was created and Manuel Pinero Losada was
heading it. Manuel Pineiro Losada is good friend of Fidel Castro. They go back
to the revolution. He's very trusted by Fidel, therefore he was assigned to
head this new department. This department is responsible for the implementation
of the covert Cuban foreign policy objectives.
NARRATOR:
The department's main objective was to foment revolution. This brought it to
the attention of the White House and the National Security Council where, in
the early '80s, Roger Fontaine was a Latin American analyst.
Mr. FONTAINE:
It really does the priority missions that Fidel has set out and since 1974,
those priority missions have been in Central America, North and South America,
destabilize, hopefully overthrow the governments in the region.
NARRATOR:
In the mid-'70s, Castro saw Colombia as ripe for revolution and the Department
of America sent one of its top agents to Bogota. His name was Fernando Ravelo
Renedo and in 1975 he was Cuba's ambassador to Colombia.
Mr. FONTAINE:
He was a facilitator, a man who knew how to use cut-outs, knew how to use false
documents, how to use clandestine air strips and all the rest.
INTERVIEWER:
Quite the ambassador.
Mr. FONTAINE:
An operator. An operator. I mean, a man who's, yes, an ambassador, used the
diplomatic as a front, as a shield, but as a very well-trained officer, a very
experienced officer in clandestine, secret operations.
NARRATOR:
Colombia's M-19 guerrillas got their weapons and training from Cuba. Ravelo
apparently encouraged them to use narcotics to finance their revolution and
promised them help.
Ms. EHRENFELD:
The Cubans will help them to transfer drugs to the United States. They will
provide them with safe haven, with fuel, with radar and everything else and in
return, the same boats will bring arms to the insurgencies, the communist
insurgencies that the Cubans were supporting in Latin America, in this case
specifically the M-19 in Colombia.
NARRATOR:
Ravelo was the link between the guerrillas and the traffickers. One night in
1979, the ambassador attended a rather wild party in a penthouse at the Bogota
Hilton. The man who'd laid on the champagne, the caviar and the girls was a
Colombian lawyer called Johnny Crump. Today Crump lives in hiding in the U.S.A.
Back then, he was one of Colombia's more successful drug smugglers. A number of
other traffickers attended the party, among them Crump's partner Jaime Guillot.
Together Crump and Lara approached Ravelo and teased him about what a perfect
place Cuba would be for refueling drug planes.
JOHNNY CRUMP, Convicted Narcotics Trafficker:
You know that Jaime asked the question like a joke, but at the same time was
some kind of a way to open the conversation.
INTERVIEWER:
And how did Ravelo respond when Jaime made his little joke?
Mr. CRUMP:
Like a joke, too, but opening the doors said, "Yeah, this is a good idea. Why
don't we talk about?"
INTERVIEWER:
He didn't leave the party?
Mr. CRUMP:
No, no, no. No, he stay in the party.
NARRATOR:
A few days later, Crump met Ravelo again. The ambassador had his deputy with
him, another agent of the America Department called Gonzalo Bassols. This
photograph shows the three of them together and this time, according to Crump,
the talk was strictly business.
Mr. CRUMP:
We make an arrangement with Fernando Ravelo to send a boat loaded with drugs to
Cuba waters. And the boat was supposed to stay in Cuba waters for whatever
need-one week, three, four, five days-till the moment that Jaime have time to
send speed boat from Miami to pick the merchandise in his boat and send it
back, the speedboat, to Miami.
INTERVIEWER:
And how would the Cubans help this boat?
Mr. CRUMP:
He will clear, not only clear, the Coast Guard would give protection to the
boat.
INTERVIEWER:
The coast guard would give protection?
Mr. CRUMP:
To the boat, right.
NARRATOR:
Johnny Crump and Ambassador Ravelo met again in Panama. Crump says they flew on
to Havana to finalize arrangements for the drug shipment.
Mr. CRUMP:
We took the plane from Panama to Havana and when we landed in Havana, I never
go through customs, through anything. They never checked my passport. I just
went from the plane to a Cuban government car that was waiting for us in the
airport. I mean, there's no way that you can go to any country with no
passport, with nothing like that, landing from another country in an
international airport and have a car waiting for you right there in the field.
It has to be with the OK of that government, that country.
NARRATOR:
In Cuba, Crump says he stayed at the Havana Libre where, for him, everything
was free.
Mr. CRUMP:
Everything was paid by the Cuban government. The hotel, you had to sign, like,
you are a guest from the Cuban government because they don't let me pay for the
hotel.
NARRATOR:
Every day, a government car would drive Crump to a series of official
engagements. Crump says the most important man he met was Rene Rodriguez Cruz,
a member of Cuba's Central Committee and a friend of Fidel Castro.
Mr. CRUMP:
That give me more confidence and trust that all the Cuban government was
approving the operation.
NARRATOR:
The Cubans were generous hosts. Crump was wined and dined at government
expense. He kept waiting for someone to ask for a bribe, but they never did.
Mr. CRUMP:
Nobody was asking for money. Everything was to build some kind of a
relationship, not to get money, for one person in particular.
INTERVIEWER:
You weren't paying bribes?
Mr. CRUMP:
Right. I never paid any money to anybody in Cuba and they never asked me for
nothing.
NARRATOR:
But there were problems. The drug boat was delayed. A nervous Crump sought
reassurance.
Mr. CRUMP:
Fernando Ravelo told me that don't worry, that the north side of Cuba was clear
for the boat to stay there and load the drugs and everything. And Fernando told
me three or four times that everything was OK, that he already clear everything
over there with the Cuban navy and coast guard.
NARRATOR:
When Crump's boat did come in it was met by a navy ship with a Cuban admiral on
board. Aldo Santamaria's name would become well known to former U.S. attorney
Dick Gregorie.
DICK GREGORIE, Asst. U.S Attorney, 1982-1989:
It was essentially his navy ships which were protecting the dope ship that was
coming through Cuba. Without his cooperation, of course, this safe haven for
the drug boats was impossible.
NARRATOR:
Dick Gregorie was the prosecutor when Johnny Crump was finally arrested and
tried in this Miami courthouse. At the trial, Gregorie indicted no less than
four high Cuban officials for drug trafficking.
Mr. GREGORIE:
We charged Santamaria Cuadrado, the vice admiral of the Cuban navy, Rene
Rodriguez Cruz, who was a high-level communist minister, Ravelo Renedo, who was
the Cuban ambassador to Colombia and we charged a man named Bassols, who was
Ravelo Renedo's assistant.
NARRATOR:
In Havana, they dismissed the whole affair as U.S. propaganda. Ravelo Renedo
and Bassols were appointed ambassadors to Nicaragua and Panama, and Admiral
Santamaria's role has never been investigated.
Mr. ESCALONA:
[through interpreter] In this case, there was no need to investigate the Cuban
naval commander because the honor of Admiral Aldo Santamaria is beyond
questions. Besides, the whole thing is a complete impossibility. It would have
involved ships and sailors from the navy and that's something we would have
known about immediately.
Mr. GREGORIE:
The Cuban government to my knowledge did nothing that changed the course of
trafficking by the drug traffickers coming out of South America. For the most
part, planes and boats were still ducking into Cuban air and sea space to
protect their shipments and to avoid U.S. interdiction.
NARRATOR:
By 1978, another government department was becoming involved with narcotics.
This is the ministry of the interior, headquarters of Cuban intelligence. One
of its top operatives was Colonel Tony de la Guardia. According to one
historian who's made a special study of Cuba's drug scandal, de la Guardia was
a close friend of Fidel Castro.
ENRIQUE BALOYRA, Professor, University of Miami:
If he ever loved the company of a person or of a type of person, Tony de la
Guardia was that type, like a favorite son, someone who could come into a room,
Fidel would be talking to someone else, and Tony would just barge in, walk
straight to the kitchen, open the fridge, pour himself a glass of milk, come,
sit in the sofa, drink his milk, observe what was going on, and then lean on
the sofa and fall asleep. The most comparable standard we have is possibly the
relationship between Ronald Reagan and Oliver North.
NARRATOR:
Castro's Oliver North could be found in a heavily guarded street just behind
the Soviet embassy compound. Tony de la Guardia handled special operations and
had his own department.
Mr. FONTAINE:
It used to be called the Z Department within MININT and was changed at some
time for some reason to MC, but it was run by Tony de la Guardia and they were
tasked to, in imaginative and often illegal ways, to raise badly needed hard
currency for Cuba and the Castro regime.
NARRATOR:
Tony de la Guardia ran many of his operations through Panama. To circumvent the
U.S. trade embargo, Cuba was shipping essential goods through Panama. Tony de
la Guardia decided to use this trade route for more exotic purposes. A former
intelligence officer now in exile, Manuel de Beunza was familiar with
Department MC's operations.
MANUEL de BEUNZA, Cuban Intelligence Officer:
[through interpreter] The function of the department was to create private
companies in different parts of the world that officially didn't belong to Cuba
but actually were totally Cuban. Through these companies, they broke the
blockade. They were involved in illegal businesses like false passports and
drug deals and sales, et cetera.
NARRATOR:
Tony de la Guardia used Panama's relaxed business laws to establish scores of
paper companies. These disguised the highly lucrative state-approved smuggling
operation, which was being mounted by Department MC.
Mr. ESCALONA:
[through interpreter] This group was created and operated over a number of
years to obtain certain spare parts, accessories, components and computer
systems that enabled us to make progress in certain areas of our development.
Much of this equipment came on speed boats from the United States to Cuba.
NARRATOR:
James Herring was one of those who skippered highspeed boats across the Florida
straits. Though he says he never smuggled drugs, his business literature
["Everything Goes, Inc."] left no doubt that he was an adventurer. On one of
his trips, he took these snapshots. This is his boat. This is one of his crew.
This is some of the high-tech goods he was running into Cuba. And this is the
Cuban launch which met him outside Varadero.
JAMES HERRING, Businessman:
When I would go into Varadero with boatloads of equipment, we would be received
by marked vessels that the Cuban navy, so to speak, utilized, their military
gunboats. They would escort us into the gunboat dockage there at Varadero. From
there they would offload. We would stay as long as we felt necessary to refuel
us, wined and dined us. And when we were ready to return to the Keys, they
would take and escort us out.
NARRATOR:
Herring started running fast boats in and out of Cuba in 1982. He soon noticed
that DGI intelligence agents were handling narcotics and this was apparently
standard operating procedure.
Mr. HERRING:
On occasions, they would even offer drugs in lieu of the cash. The DGI had the
availability of enormous amounts of drugs that they had warehoused through
seizures that they had made in their country on drug operations that weren't
paying protection for their air space or their waterways. So they had a readily
available amount of drugs in the form of cocaine, Qualudes and marijuana. I was
even offered at one point in time as much as one kilo for any $1,000 worth of
services. A kilo being worth $25,000 wholesale, that would have been a
tremendous incentive to take the drugs above the cash.
NARRATOR:
By the early 1980s, the cocaine being flown across the Caribbean was worth
billions. Colombian smugglers bought whole islands like Norman's Key in the
Bahamas. This was one of their landing strips. But Cuba could offer certain
advantages, not least of them more reliable landing facilities, and that's how
Cuba began to cash in on the drug trade.
Ms. EHRENFELD:
They were paid for their services. They provided safe haven. They provided
passports. They provided fuel. They provided radar services and escorts of
boats. And for that, they were paid. In addition, they were taking commission
from each shipment of drugs that went through Cuba.
NARRATOR:
Cuba allowed several major drug smugglers to hide out on the island. In 1982,
one of them set up home here at the Marina Hemingway. Though Robert Vesco was
indicted in 1989 for smuggling over a ton of cocaine through Cuba, he is still
living there. James Herring once worked for Vesco.
Mr. HERRING:
Robert Vesco was treated like royalty in Cuba. He was put up in a very nice
home there in the marina area, had a place for his boat out back. He had all
the luxuries of home.
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] I've seen Robert Vesco in House Number Four which was
given to him by Fidel and I've seen him on Fidel Castro's own yacht, the
Yarama. They were fishing together.
INTERVIEWER:
You saw him on Fidel's yacht?
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] Yes, I have seen him personally.
Mr. HERRING:
Basically, Vesco was Fidel Castro's procurer. He was paying his dues to the
Cuban government for his asylum there and in doing so, he was willing to
procure anything that they needed, get involved in any type of operation that
needed to be.
Mr. BLUM:
There's no question that when Vesco was living in Cuba, he was engaging in
narcotics trafficking, that there were drugs coming to Vesco, and that he was
then transshipping those drugs to the United States.
NARRATOR:
Vesco arranged for one of his business associates to visit Cuba. This is Carlos
Lehder, a founding member of the Medellin Cartel. Today he's in a U.S.
penitentiary serving a sentence of life plus 135 years. Because his case is
under appeal, Lehder declined to discuss any drug business he may have done in
Cuba, but he does confirm that he went there and that his visit was approved at
a very high level.
CARLOS LEHDER-RIVAS, Convicted Narcotics Trafficker:
Without the permission of Fidel, I could have never gone into Cuba.
INTERVIEWER:
So Fidel Castro gave you permission to enter Cuba?
Mr. LEHDER:
He gave permission to the authorities so I can go into Cuba and meet with
Bob.
INTERVIEWER:
And you think Vesco requested that?
Mr. LEHDER:
The permission was requested by Bob, yeah, by Vesco.
NARRATOR:
One of Lehder's own pilots has testified that he went to Cuba to arrange drug
overflights. Lehder will only admit that in Havana he met Robert Vesco and Tony
de la Guardia and that at the end of his stay, he left his usual going-away
present-a plane.
INTERVIEWER:
Now, you gave a plane to the Cubans?
Mr. LEHDER:
Right. I did.
INTERVIEWER:
Why?
Mr. LEHDER:
It was suggested by Bob and I felt-I felt that-that since I was in the airplane
business, that was something that I could give and that is generally what I
gave away to-to-to governments or to people that have been extra kind to me.
NARRATOR:
By the time Carlos Lehder visited Havana, Cuba had been offering facilities to
smugglers for almost four years. But there is also evidence that Cuba and even
Castro himself was beginning to play a more active role in the drug trade. The
former intelligence officer Manuel de Beunza recalls a meeting with Fidel
Castro. He says his own boss, Cuba's intelligence chief, General Jose Abrantes,
was there and that drugs were on the agenda.
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] I took part in a meeting at which Fidel Castro ordered
the creation of companies that were to be involved in drug dealing. There were
others there, like Osmany Cienfuegos, Tony de la Guardia, Jose Abrantes.
NARRATOR:
In Panama, FRONTLINE traced two of the businesses named by de Beunza. One of
them was a shipping form called Happy Line. The other was a trading concern
called Mercurio.
INTERVIEWER:
You say that Castro ordered Happy Line be established. Now, how do you know
Fidel Castro personally ordered that?
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] Because I was present. I know Fidel Castro and I was at
the meeting where the company was set up.
INTERVIEWER:
You were personally there in the room?
Mr. de BEUNZA:
That's right.
INTERVIEWER:
What did you hear him say?
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] I already explained to you that he didn't just say it. He
ordered the creation of these companies -Happy Line, Agua Mar Shipping Company
and Mercurio-with the specific aim of their getting involved in drug
trafficking. Mercurio was the buyer and the negotiator and Happy Line and Agua
Mar Shipping, the companies that owned ships with Panamanian flags and with
Cuban crews with fake Panamanian passports. The trafficked in the Caribbean and
the south of Cuba and they also rendezvoused with Colombian ships. The
merchandise, the cocaine, is handed over and taken to Cuba to the military port
of Cienfuegos and Barlovento.
NARRATOR:
Another former intelligence officer who corroborates this story is Juan Antonio
Rodriguez. He'd worked in counterintelligence for over 20 years and used to
exchange news with Tony de la Guardia and others in Department MC.
JUAN ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ MENIER, Cuban Intelligence Officer:
[through interpreter] They talked to me because we are friends from way back.
Me and Tony de la Guardia go back 30 years. My friendship with Rolando
Castenada goes back 45 years. We all grew up together in the same
neighborhood.
[in English] Both grow up in the same block, you know? It's not because they
are talking with somebody about that. No, no. It's because I belong to the
inside group, a very close group of friends. That is the point. And I talk with
them about this business, and so on.
NARRATOR:
Talk about the drug business was a regular part of the lunchtime gossip that
Rodriguez shared with Tony de la Guardia at the Centro Vasco Restaurant, and
this is where he heard about a significant shift in Cuba's drug policy.
Mr. RODRIGUEZ:
[through interpreter] They have had four years working in drugs, so they know
more or less who the producers are and the distributors, et cetera, et cetera.
They are convinced that they can get into the market as sellers. So who do they
speak to? Abrantes. And he says, 'Well, I will talk to Fidel," and so on. And
it is approved by Fidel. So they begin to deal directly, to buy and sell, buy
and sell, as well as providing facilities, because they don't cut out the drug
dealers. No, what they do is operate it where the drug dealers can't. It's like
a Mafia family. Fidel became a family but without harming the interests of
other families. That's why Carlos Lehder was in Cuba. He was there for about
six months. Carlos Lehder was a famous narco-trafficker, et cetera, et
cetera.
NARRATOR:
Though it's not clear how much business Cuba was doing in its own right, by the
mid-'80s the U.S. Coast Guard was detecting a dramatic increase in drug
activity off the Cuban coast.
JEFF KARONIS, Lt. Commander, U.S. Coast Guard:
We would observe in the middle of the day, an air drop going on inside Cuban
waters. We were observing from outside, in international waters. The scenario
would be for a small twin-engine airplane with maybe 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of
cocaine, fly over Cuba, drop the drugs to a predesignated rendezvous point to
several boats, usually what we call "fast boats," high-powered boats that are
capable of 40 to 60 knots, sometimes. And then it would exit back down off Cuba
and many times it would be under the eyes or at least a Cuban military vessel
would be in the immediate vicinity, right on scene with them.
NARRATOR:
It became so blatant, the drugs were dropped in broad daylight within sight of
the Las Americas Restaurant, one of Cuba's top tourist attractions. The volume
was so high that in a 12-month period U.S. law enforcement collected
intelligence on 64 incidents. From these, a pattern begins to emerge. Cuba's
coast guard directed most yachts and fast boats to these six harbors. The navy
allowed the larger drug ships to dock in six bigger ports. The air force had
responsibility for light planes, which landed at Varadero. Air force general
Rafael del Pino is the most senior officer to defect from Cuba.
General RAFAEL del PINO, Cuban Air Force:
[Defected, May 28, 1987] The permission to overfly Cuba have to come from the
ministry of defense.
NARRATOR:
The minister of defense is Raul Castro, Fidel's brother.
Gen. del PINO:
Several times I received orders from Raul Castro's office and also from General
Abrantes's office to let the airplane cross over Cuba.
INTERVIEWER:
Now, what kind of orders did you get?
Gen. del PINO:
Just, "Tomorrow at 14 Zulu is gonna to fly an airplane like this, this, two
engines, and just let it fly."
NARRATOR:
The planes often flew through some of the most restricted airspace in the
country.
Gen. del PINO:
In the western part of Cuba, we have 19 SAM missile sites and we have hundreds
of radars and we have a regiment of MiG-23 interceptors. And it is completely
impossible that a small airplane fly from Colombia to the United States without
the knowledge and the permission of the Cuban authority.
NARRATOR:
According to del Pino, the military top brass assumed drugs were part of state
policy. Officers even argued about the rights and wrongs of it.
Gen. del PINO:
Everybody knew there that they were getting in this business. Some of them were
against and some were pro. Some say that that was a dirty game and some of them
say, 'Well, in this kind of war against the imperialists, we can use all our
tricks and the Maximum Leader knows the weak part of the United States and this
is the way to make them weaker." In Cuba, more than the other totalitarian
countries, nothing moves without the knowledge of Fidel Castro.
Mr. RODRIGUEZ:
Nobody can do that or think over because it's a big problem with Fidel if Fidel
don't like it. You understand the point? Nobody take the risk, OK?
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] Because it's impossible to organize an operation of that
size in Cuba without the approval of Fidel Castro.
NARRATOR:
Despite this, some navy officers were unhappy with their orders. Manuel de
Beunza recalls a revealing conversation with Admiral Betancourt.
Mr. de BEUNZA:
[through interpreter] Perez Betancourt told me that Aldo Santamaria was
involved in drug trafficking. He said Aldo was following Fidel and Raul's
orders but he was doing it reluctantly whereas he, Perez Betancourt, say that
if he were the boss of the navy, he would be happy to do it because they were
Fidel's orders, and that surprised me.
NARRATOR:
The drug runners at Marina Hemingway also believed that their Cuban contacts
had the approval of their superiors.
Mr. RUIZ:
If they do it without having the assurance 100 percent, they're crazy, which I
don't think they are. Once Tony and I were alone, in cabin number 26 in the
Marina Hemingway, down there in Havana, and I asked him, "Tony, there is not
problem at all in this thing that we're doing, right?" Tony, "No." "You're
sure?" "Sure." "Everything is secure all the way to the top, right?" "You bet
on it."
Mr. FONTAINE:
It's inconceivable to me that a dangerous, risky, criminal activity would have
been carried out on the part of Tony de la Guardia, for example, without
specific orders from his superiors.
NARRATOR:
The arrest of Reinaldo Ruiz and his eon put Tony on the spot. Their confessions
blew his cover. Cuba no longer had deniability. De la Guardia was a spy who was
about to be left out in the cold.
JOSE LUIS LLOVIO-MENENDEZ, former Chief Adviser, Ministry of Finance:
He was very lonely and he was like a fog. He didn't know where to go.
INTERVIEWER:
He was cornered?
Mr. LLOVIO-MENENDEZ:
Yes, he was cornered. He was very cornered.
NARRATOR:
De la Guardia turned to a former government official to whom he was related by
marriage. Llovio-Menendez, who now lives in Manhattan, says he received 15
phone calls from Tony de la Guardia in Havana. The last call was only days
before his arrest.
Mr. LLOVIO-MENENDEZ:
The last week of May, 1989, he called me and he said that he was involved in
drug trafficking and he-and an order without alternative was given to him by
the minister of the interior at that moment, Jose Abrantes, and it was Fidel
who gave the order to Abrantes. Then I was very upset. "How can you get
involved in a thing like that?" He said, "It was an order without alternative.
I had to do it. And I know that if something happen, I'm going to be alone. If
this is known, I'm going to be alone and nobody will protect me."
NARRATOR:
As he stepped into the witness box at his court martial, de la Guardia must
have felt completely alone. He knew that many of those present had direct
knowledge of drug operations. Some had even taken part in them. But no one
would speak in de la Guardia's defense.
Mr. FONTAINE:
In the trial itself, remember the tapes that we can see were edited by the
Cuban government, totally controlled by the Cuban government. Nevertheless, in
one of the tapes, de la Guardia was charged, in fact, with personally-and as
other people-personally benefiting from the drug money. Denied it. He said he
did it because he wanted to earn hard currency for the revolution, that he did
not personally benefit from it. The charge of corruption, even though the man
was on the spot, even though he's the fall guy, even though he knows he's being
set up, is something he personally could not accept and didn't and said so.
NARRATOR:
Admiral Santamaria was one of those who signed de la Guardia's sentence, though
he himself is still under indictment for drug trafficking in the U.S.
Mr. LLOVIO-MENENDEZ:
Tony de la Guardia knew that Fidel was involved in drug trafficking. He was the
only living witness except perhaps Raul Castro and Abrantes who knew that Fidel
was involved in drug trafficking. Fidel had to get rid of him.
NARRATOR:
After the court martial and the trial, Castro convened the Council of State in
order to ratify the sentences. Under Cuban law, the maximum sentence for drug
smuggling is 15 years, but de la Guardia, General Ochoa and their two aides
were facing death. For two spell-binding hours, Castro argued that the moral
damage done to the revolution amounted to high treason and death was the only
proper punishment.
Mr. RODRIGUEZ:
[through interpreter] Fidel says, "I represent the revolution. It's an ideology
of purity and morality." His power rests on this ideology and this keeps him
from being just another dictator. Otherwise Fidel would be just like Somosa,
just like Trujillo, just like the others. So for these reasons, Fidel needs to
maintain the ideology because it keeps him in power.
NARRATOR:
In the end, when it came to the vote, Castro urged the Council to raise their
hands and ratify the death sentences.
FIDEL CASTRO:
[through interpreter] Those who agree with the ratification of the sentence
handed down by the Military Court, raise your hands.
NARRATOR:
Castro was unopposed.
Mr. FONTAINE:
If he is willing to jettison his closest friends, who's safe in Cuba? Because
they may be set up at some point if it's convenient to use another fall guy.
And I think that has very serious implications for the regime and himself.
NARRATOR:
Four days after Castro closed the session, de la Guardia and three others faced
the firing squad.
Mr. LLOVIO-MENENDEZ:
I felt very angry and I felt that Fidel had been merciless. He has protected
his image by killing a man who was acting under his orders.
NARRATOR:
According to Castro, the destruction of de la Guardia's ring should have
stopped the flow of drugs through Cuba. According to U.S. Customs, trafficking
has declined since the trial but it has not stopped. According to the drug
smugglers, de la Guardia was not the only official who helped channel drugs
through Cuba.
INTERVIEWER:
Is that the end of drug smuggling in Cuba?
Mr. RUIZ:
No.
INTERVIEWER:
How do you know?
Mr. RUIZ:
Because those channels are available any time and I could activate one or two
very easily or send to activate it.
INTERVIEWER:
How many do you know of?
Mr. RUIZ:
How many do I know of? Five or six.
INTERVIEWER:
Five or six people?
Mr. RUIZ:
Channels.
NARRATOR:
The five top Cuban officials named by Ruiz include Admiral Santamaria and
Manuel Pinero, head of the America Department. The U.S. Coast Guard has also
continued to observe drug drops off Cuba in the last 18 months.
Lt. Cmdr. KARONIS:
We detected airplanes flying over Cuba and apparently making air drops of drugs
for three nights in a row. One night in particular, they dropped to three U.S.
fast boats right inside Cuban waters. We intercepted them in international
waters. We chased them. They headed back down into Cuban waters. We also
encountered several Cuban gunboats during the same chase.
NARRATOR:
As in the past, those gunboats appeared to be protecting the operation and when
the Americans got too close, a Cuban helicopter came to chase them away. At
least 18 such operations have been observed by U.S. Customs since the trial.
There is no way of knowing how many others have gone undetected.
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