Yahoo! News
September 24, 2001.
Castro: Cuba Opposes Terrorism, War
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 22 (AP) - Warning that large-scale U.S. military attacks against
Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s ruling Taliban could have catastrophic
consequences, Cuban leader Fidel Castro (news - web sites) on Saturday declared
his opposition to the gathering war as much as the terrorist acts that
precipitated it.
Reiterating Cuba's "willingness to cooperate with every country in
total eradication of terrorism,'' Castro repeated his solidarity with the
American people after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
"Cuba is opposed to terrorism and is opposed to war,'' the 75-year-old
Castro told tens of thousands of cheering people at a government rally Saturday
outside Havana.
He called the attacks an "atrocious and insane terrorist act,'' but
insisted that "the tragedy should not be used to recklessly start a war
that could unleash an endless carnage of innocent people.''
Castro clearly took exception to parts of President Bush (news - web
sites)'s Thursday night speech roughly outlining his retaliation plan to the
American people and the world.
Bush's plan is for "a world military dictatorship under the exclusive
rule of force, irrespective of any international laws or institutions,'' Castro
said.
"There would be only one boss, only one judge, and only one law,'' he
said.
A vocal advocate of individual nations' sovereignty, Castro found troubling
Bush's declaration: "Either you are with us, or you are with the
terrorists.''
"No nation of the world has been left out of the dilemma, not even the
big and powerful states; none has escaped the threat of war or attacks,'' said
Castro. "We have all been ordered to ally either with the United States
government or with terrorism,'' he added.
As for Bush's declaration that any weapon could be used, Castro said: "No
procedure has been excluded, regardless of its ethics, nor any threat no matter
how fatal - whether it be nuclear, chemical, biological or any other.''
The Cuban leader also expressed concerns about how extensive such a war
would be and how long it would last.
Castro said the American president made "an amazing assertion''
Thursday night when he said that "the course of this conflict is not known;
yet its outcome is certain. And we know that God is not neutral.''
"When I think about the real or imagined parties involved in that
bizarre holy war that is about to begin, I find it difficult to make a
distinction about where the fanaticism is stronger.''
Washington and Havana have not have diplomatic relations for four decades,
but Castro insisted "Cuba will never be used for terrorist actions against
the American people and we will do everything within our reach to prevent such
actions against that people.''
Both Washington and Havana confirmed this week that U.S. officials
approached Cuba about providing information about terrorism following the
attacks.
Democracia Members To Face Charges Of Going Into Cuban Waters
Monday September 24 08:05 AM EDT. WPLG Click10.com.
Cuban exile leader Ramon Saul Sanchez and two other Democracia members are
scheduled to appear in federal court today in Key West.
Sanchez Alberto Perez and Pablo Rodriguez were indicted for sailing within
five miles of Cuba's coastline during a flotilla last July.
That flotilla was in remembrance of the 1994 sinking of a Cuban tugboat.
The move into Cuban waters could land Sanchez in prison for ten years if
he's convicted.
Couple Pleads Guilty to Spying
MIAMI, 21 (AP) - A husband and wife pleaded guilty to spying for Cuba,
becoming the sixth and seventh members of an espionage ring to face sentencing
following a massive FBI (news - web sites) investigation.
The FBI said more arrests are expected.
Marisol Gari, 42, and George Gari, 41, reached their plea agreements
Thursday.
The Miami Herald reported Friday that Marisol Gari's plea agreement, which
was sealed by a federal judge, calls for her cooperation with prosecutors.
In June, five other high-ranking members of the ring, which prosecutors have
labeled "The Wasp Network,'' were convicted after a six-month trial. The
men are scheduled to be sentenced in December.
The Garis are accused of spying from 1991 to 1998.
Marisol Gari allegedly used a former job at the U.S. Postal Service's Miami
International Airport distribution center to gain access to mail to and from
targeted Cuban-Americans.
George Gari, a former Lockheed Martin equipment tester, was ordered by the
spy network to apply for work at the U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami
in an unsuccessful infiltration attempt, agents said.
Louis Casuso, lawyer for Marisol Gari, said she pleaded guilty to one count
of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent for Cuba. She faces a maximum five
years in prison and deportation afterward because she is not a U.S. citizen.
George Gari also pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an unregistered
agent for Cuba. He faces a maximum 10 years in prison.
Pentagon Analyst Accused of Spying
By Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, 21 (AP) - A Pentagon (news - web sites) intelligence analyst who
attended war games conducted by the U.S. Atlantic Command in 1996 was charged
Friday with spying for Cuba.
Ana Belen Montes, an employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency,
transmitted a substantial amount of classified information to the Cuban
intelligence service, an FBI (news - web sites) affidavit alleged.
Montes appeared before a U.S. magistrate in Washington and was charged with
conspiracy to deliver U.S. national defense information to Cuba. She entered no
plea and was ordered held without bond.
Montes has worked for the DIA, the intelligence arm of the Defense
Department, since 1985, authorities said.
In a 17-page affidavit, the FBI alleged that the Cuban intelligence service
passed messages to Montes via shortwave radio and that the DIA analyst began
spying for Cuba nearly five years ago.
The FBI secretly entered Montes' residence under a court order May 25 and
uncovered information about several Defense Department issues, including a 1996
war games exercise conducted by the U.S. Atlantic Command, authorities said.
According to the affidavit, the DIA said that Montes attended the war games
exercise in Norfolk, Va., as part of her official duties at DIA. The FBI said it
found information on the hard drive of her laptop computer.
One partially recovered message deals with "a particular special access
program related to the national defense of the United States,'' which is so
sensitive that it could not be publicly revealed in the court documents, the
document said.
According to the FBI's affidavit, some of the messages suggested that Montes
disclosed the upcoming arrival of a U.S. military intelligence officer in Cuba.
"As a result,'' the FBI said, "the Cuban government was able to
direct its counterintelligence resources against the U.S. officer.''
The FBI said Montes got a message back from her Cuban handlers stating, "We
were waiting here for him with open arms.''
One message found on the hard drive was from her Cuban intelligence service
handlers and said that she had provided "tremendously useful ...
information,'' said the FBI.
According to the FBI, another message from her Cuban contact said in regard
to the 1996 war games exercise: "Practically everything that takes place
there will be of intelligence value. Let's see if it deals with contingency
plans and specific targets in Cuba.''
The DIA confirmed that Montes and a colleague were briefed on the highly
sensitive program on May 15, 1997.
The FBI said they had Montes under surveillance since May.
It was unclear whether the Montes case was directly related to a ring in
Florida convicted of spying for Cuba. However, the FBI affidavit notes
repeatedly that methods of passing classified information that Montes allegedly
used were the same as those used by the Miami defendants.
Five Florida defendants were convicted in June, and two pleaded guilty in
Miami Friday, bringing to seven the number of defendants in a spy ring that
prosecutors have labeled "The Wasp Network.''
During their surveillance of Montes, the FBI trailed her around suburban
Washington as she used a series of pay phones to make calls. The FBI said it
believes that "the pay phone calls were in furtherance of Montes'
espionage.''
The FBI said the Cuban intelligence service often communicates with
clandestine agents outside Cuba by broadcasting encrypted messages at high
frequencies which transmits a series of numbers. The clandestine agents
monitoring the message on a shortwave radio keys in the numbers onto a computer,
then uses a disk containing a decryption program to convert the numbers into
text.
The FBI said that is the method that Montes used to communicate. The
affidavit said Montes also communicated with the Cuban intelligence service by
making calls to a pager number during her pay telephone calls.
The FBI agent said that "based on the evidence ... I believe probable
cause exists'' that Montes has been conspiring to pass secrets to Cuba since
Oct. 5, 1996, the day she purchased her laptop computer.
A DIA spokesman declined to comment beyond saying when Montes had gone to
work for the agency.
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (news - bio - voting record), R-Fla, said Cuba
shares intelligence information with terrorist states. "It was critically
important that the spy be stopped now as the United States embarks upon a
worldwide war against terrorism,'' he said.
The DIA, based at Bolling Air Force Base in southeast Washington, D.C.,
provides analyses of foreign countries' military capabilities and troop
strengths for Pentagon planners. It also has offices within the Pentagon. Along
with the CIA (news - web sites), National Security Agency and the National
Reconnaissance Office, the DIA is one of the main agencies of the U.S.
intelligence community.
The FBI affidavit said Montes worked at Bolling Air Force Base.
In June, Mariano Faget, a U.S. immigration official convicted of disclosing
classified information to aid Cuba, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Faget, once the second-ranking immigration official in Miami, was convicted
after an investigation that also lead to the expulsion of a Cuban spy. | 
