Terrorist identifies backers of Cuba bombings
In a front-page article on July 12, the New York Times described an admission by Cuban-born right-winger Luis Posada Carriles that he received funding from the late Cuban-American leader Jorge Mas Canosa for a series of bombings of Cuban hotels between April 12 and September 4, 1997.
"Jorge controlled everything", Posada told the Times. "Whenever I needed money, he said to give me $5,000, give me $10,000, give me $15,000, and they sent it to me."
Until his death last November, Mas Canosa headed the influential right-wing Cuban American National Foundation. Posada said he had also received financial support from CANF treasurer Feliciano Foyo and current CANF chair Alberto Hernandez, along with four Cuban-Americans in Union City, New Jersey, who belong to a group called "the Union of Former Political Prisoners".
The conservative Miami Herald and its Spanish-language newspaper, El Nuevo Herald, ran stories in the autumn of 1997 revealing Posada Carriles' role in the hotel bombings, in which an Italian tourist was killed.
The New York Times was able to tape interviews with Posada himself, who supplied names of the people who funded his operations. The 70-year-old said he was willing to talk now because he wanted to put his version of events on record before he dies.
Posada is a long-time US Central Intelligence Agency "asset" who says that the CIA and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation "don't bother me, and I am neutral with them. Whenever I can help them, I do."
The CANF denies any role in the bombing operations. The Times is to publish more articles based on the interviews.
The revelations about CANF have been appearing as the administration of Bill Clinton prepares to seek Congressional approval for its May 18 agreement with the European Union to tone down the "Helms-Burton" law. CANF was one of the main forces behind the law, which tightened the US embargo against Cuba.
[From Weekly News Update on the Americas, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY, 10012, USA; e-mail wnu@igc.apc.org.]