In the US, Fidel really gets around

July 1, 1992
Issue 

The following article really appeared in the June 16 issue of the Sun, a "newspaper" sold in supermarkets in the United States. Aside from the humour it unintentionally provides, it is an interesting commentary on the "free" media of the US.

Fidel Castro was secretly hiding out in Los Angeles during the May riots and there are even pictures of the crazed Cuban dictator running down the streets to join in the looting and burning.

Within minutes of the outbreak of rioting wild rumors circulated throughout LA that Castro was seen sprinting past burning stores, urging rampaging youths to destroy everything in sight.

Off duty police officer Thomas A Gerson, 46, says he spotted Castro at the intersection of Normandie and Florence, yelling encouragement to the wild angry mob setting fires, smashing windows and looting neighborhood stores. "I swear it was Castro," Gerson said. "He was whipping up the mob yelling in Spanish and English, 'Burn it down, burn it down'. Gerson says that under ordinary circumstances he would have arrested Castro for inciting to riot.

"But it was crazy out there", said Gerson. "I fought in Vietnam and I was never this scared, snipers were firing all over the place."

"So it didn't make any sense to arrest someone who was running around screaming like a nut, there were other people out there doing a lot worse. I just wanted to get out of there alive and try to make sure that no one was killed."

Gerson's eyewitness account of Castro's participation in the LA riots was later confirmed by Alberto Ortega, an Argentinean news cameraman. "I know it was Castro running down the street", he says. "I know that face and voice anywhere, I covered three Latin American summit meetings and I have heard Castro's scream before in that high pitched voice. There is no mistaking that it was him. He was going wild screaming Tear it down, burn it down."

An incredible still photo of Castro rioting in Los Angeles with other hoodlums was taken from the film footage shot by Ortega. The film has been studied frame by frame in slow motion, by authorities trying to identify the criminals responsible for the devastation of South Central Los Angeles. "They know for damn sure it was Castro out there inciting all those people to riot," says intelligence analyst Robert Woods. "Some of the militants responsible for the riots actually were talking about overthrowing the government — and I would bet they got their ideas from Castro."

Woods says there is strong evidence to suggest that Castro sneaked into the US via Miami and was then driven to California by Cuban spies operating in this country.

"It's really not too difficult to sneak into the US by boat" ds of Cubans seeking freedom sail to Florida every week on all kind of boats. And most of them make it so it would be no problem at all for one of Castro's powerful, well-equipped vessels to make the 100 mile crossing."

"The US Coast Guard is undermanned, and they can't possibly stop all the small boats sailing to the Florida Keys these days. They're spending most of their time rescuing Haitian boat people who are desperately trying to reach the US in rickety boats. So it's very conceivable that Castro slipped into Florida unnoticed. I'm sure it was a well rehearsed operation with Cuban agents, and it wasn't too difficult to stage. This is something that the US government must take very seriously. We can't have enemies like Castro showing up on our shores any time they please."

Further evidence of Castro's involvement in the LA riots comes from two gang members, Albert Coolidge and Derrick "Fishead" Williams, who identified him as one of the rioters whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

"That dude was crazy," says Williams. "He was jumping up and down and screaming. He had a gun too but he didn't shoot nobody man. He was running around and yelling stuff in Spanish. I told him 'Man, I don't talk no Spanish.' I'll never forget that man. He didn't even try to duck from the bullets. That man was really the riots, you know what I mean?"

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