| Cuba Facts
is an ongoing series of succinct fact sheets on various topics,
including, but not limited to, political structure, health,
economy, education, nutrition, labor, business, foreign investment,
and demographics, published and updated on a regular basis by
the Cuba Transition Project staff.
| Anti-Israeli
Policies of the Castro Government |
1959-1967
- Cuba welcomed and supported the founding of the PLO.
- The Tricontinental Conference was held in Havana in January
1966 to adopt a common political strategy against colonialism,
neocolonialism, and imperialism. Cuba provided the organizational
structure to support terrorist, anti-American groups in the
Middle East and Latin America. The Organization for the Solidarity
with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAL)
was created.
- Fidel Castro created The National Liberation Directorate
(DLN) in Cuba to support revolutionary groups throughout the
world. DLN was responsible for planning and coordinating Cuba’s
terrorist training camps in the island, covert movement of
personnel and military supplies from Cuba and a propaganda
apparatus.
- Cuba and Syria developed a close alliance and supported
FATAH and the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF).
1968-1975
- Cuban military, political and intelligence support was provided
to Palestinian organizations.
- Castro sent military instructors and advisors into Palestinian
bases in Jordan to train Palestinian Fedayeen (1968); first
high-level delegation from FATAH-PLO visited Cuba (1970).
- Several missions sent to Southern Yemen to support NLF/FATAH
Ismail both politically and militarily.
- Cuba broke relations with Israel and supported a UN sponsored
Resolution on Zionism “as a form of racial discrimination.”
- In 1974 Cuba's National Liberation Directorate (DLN) was
reorganized into the America Department (DA) under the Communist
Party of Cuba Central Committee. The DA centralized control
over Cuban activities for supporting national liberation movements.
The DA was responsible for planning and coordinating Cuba’s
secret guerrilla and terrorist training camps, networks for
the covert movement of personnel and material from Cuba, and
a propaganda apparatus. DA agents operated in Europe, Latin
America, the Middle East and other regions. Trusted Castro
ally, Manuel Piñeiro, “Barbaroja” was placed
in charge.
- Cuba provided Syria with military support and troops against
Israel during the Yom Kippur War (1973-1975).
1976-1982
- Cuba supported the so-called "Steadfastness Front"
against the U.S. backed Camp David accord.
- Abu Iyad, a close aid to Yasser Arafat, stated in 1978 that
hundreds of Palestinian had been sent to Cuban terrorist camps.
The CIA estimated that there were 300 Palestinians training
in Cuba.
- Arafat visited Cuba and signed an agreement for military
cooperation and arms supply.
- Despite its close links with Baghdad, Cuba recognized and
praised the Iranian Revolution. Once Iraq attacked Iran, Cuba
withdrew its military advisers from Baghdad and adopted a
position of official impartiality, though more sympathetic
to Baghdad due to its past relations.
- Cuba cooperated with Libya in the political founding of
the World MATHABA in Tripoli, coordinating revolutionary violence
throughout the world.
1983-2000
- After the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority,
Cuban-Palestinian military cooperation increased.
- During the Palestinian “Intifada,” Cuba increased
its military support for Arafat and the PLO.
- PLO leaders continued close relations with the Cuban leadership,
having access to specialized military and intelligence training
in Cuba and by the sharing of intelligence.
2001 to date
- In January 2004, a senior U.S. Department of Defense official
stated that “the communist government of Cuba shared
intelligence on the United States with Saddam Hussein’s
regime” in exchange for clandestine Iraqi oil shipments
to Cuba.
- Iranian-Cuban relations increased with Iran providing Cuba
with over a billion dollars in aid and credits.
- Cuban state-run Center for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering
established a joint venture bio-technology plant near Tehran
at a cost of $60 million (paid by Iran).
- Cuba has been spearheading a campaign to legitimize Iran’s
nuclear program as an “unalienable right” of all
developing nations.
- Cuba advocated and demanded strong international action
“to put an end to the Israeli genocide currently committed…against
the Arab-Palestinian population of the occupied territories…It
is high time that Israel ceased its heinous occupation of
the Arab territories and its unpunished encroachment on the
most basic rights of the Palestinian people, starting with
the right to life.”
- Cuba claimed that “the images of Palestinian civilians,
including children, assassinated by Israel, who were supported
by the United States, unleashes criminal aggression against
a small state are unforgettable."
- “Faced with the barbarity carried out by the military
hordes of the Israeli government, against the Palestinian
and Lebanese people, the People’s Power of the Republic
of Cuba, together with numerous organizations and personalities
from all over the world, express their most energetic condemnation
and urge the immediate ceasing of such a horrendous and shameless
action, a genocide, which challenges universal public opinion,
laughs at the United Nations and threatens to invade other
countries, reminiscent of the era of Nazism.”
- Cuba continues to support anti-Israeli resolutions at the
United Nations.
- The Castro brothers continue to provide aid and intelligence
to the PLO, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
- The Castro brothers and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez are
Iran’s closest allies in Latin America.
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/. |
