On November 23, 1997, Jorge Mas Canosa, the most powerful anti-Castro exile leader in America, died. Mas Canosa with Bill Clinton Though he didn’t accomplish his ambition of returning to Havana in triumph as its new American-backed, post-Castro leader, Mas Canosa’s public creation—the Cuban American National Foundation—did become one of the most effective lobbying machines […]
- 11/23/2010
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Cuba’s Granma newspaper says Luis Posada Carriles’ lawyers are trying to use a legal loophole to prevent the court from hearing key evidence in his case. Posada, the alleged mastermind of both the 1976 bombing of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 and also the 1997 Havana hotel bombing campaign, is scheduled to go on trial at […]
- 11/21/2010
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On November 17, 2000, Luis Posada Carriles and three accomplices—including one affiliated with the powerful Cuban American National Foundation—were arrested in Panama in connection with a planned attempt to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Officials seized 200 pounds of explosives. All were found guilty and sentenced to prison but then, in August 2004, the country’s […]
- 11/17/2010
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If you’re interested in understanding the broader context of the story behind the Cuban Five and the reasons Cuba sends spies to Florida to infiltrate and disrupt militant anti-Castro exile groups, you should read Keith Bolender’s new book, Voices From The Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba (Pluto Press). Cuba has publicly […]
- 11/11/2010
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United Nations November 10, 2001 “Some governments still turn a blind eye to the terrorists, hoping the threat will pass them by,” U.S. President George W. Bush admonished his fellow world leaders in a speech to the United Nations on November 10, 2001, two months after 9/11. “They are mistaken,” he declared. “The allies of […]
- 11/10/2010
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The Miami Herald has published the text of a letter from the U.S. Departments of State and Justice to Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) regarding rumours the Cuban government might be willing to exchange an American contractor it is holding in exchange for members of the Cuban Five. The letter: Dear Congressman Díaz-Balart: Thank you for […]
- 11/06/2010
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Off Puerto Rico. October 27, 1997 Drugs… What else would four middle-aged men with dodgy answers to routine questions be doing floating listlessly in a fancy but battered cabin cruiser off Puerto Rico? Officers aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Baranof had first spotted the tan, 46-foot La Esperanza during a routine patrol 11 miles […]
On October 17, 2010, the Miami Herald published “Mystery Man in Terror Plot Points to Miami Exiles”. Chávez Abarca The story attempted to cast doubts on Cuba’s allegations that Francisco Chávez Abarca—a Salvadoran gangster it recently arrested in connection with the 1997 bombing campaign against Havana hotels—had implicated a number of Miami-based Cuban exiles, including […]
”In a report sent to the US government and released today [October 13, 2010] Amnesty International outlines its concerns about the fairness of the trial of five men convicted in 2001 of acting as intelligence agents for Cuba and related charges… “In a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder on 4 October, enclosing its […]
In this, the first of a three-part video from Cubavision, Salvadoran Francisco Chavez Abarca talks about—and reenacts—a number of his missions to Cuba to plant bombs at tourist facilities during the mid-1990s: For more on who Chavez Abarca is and the story of his involvement in the 1997 hotel bombing campaign, check out The Gordito […]
STEPHEN KIMBER, a Professor of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax and co-founder of its MFA in Creative Nonfiction Program, is an award-winning writer, editor and broadcaster. He is the author of two novels and eight non-fiction books. Buy his books
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