Thursday, April 9, 2020

Ghost of Ochoa: Why Castro's foreign minister is loudly protesting a Newsweek story

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act -III, Scene-II 


Yesterday, Castro's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, issued a strong denial over social media that was also carried by the dictatorship's official media, rejecting the statement reported and published by Newsweek on April 3, 2020 that a "senior Pentagon official said that the U.S. Intelligence Community 'has evidence that Maduro is trafficking drugs using naval vessels between Venezuela and Cuba.'" 

Clearly, the military junta in Cuba is nervous. The United States Department of Justice announced on March 26, 2020 that Nicolás Maduro Moros and 14 current and former Venezuelan Officials were charged with narco-terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking and other criminal charges. 


The Castro regime has a decades long relationship with drug cartels, and has been involved in the drug smuggling business itself, and high ranking officials have been indicted in the past.

Manuel Noriega and Fidel Castro before  the unpleasantness of 1989
Last time something like that happened was in 1989 when Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was indicted, captured, sentenced and jailed for drug trafficking, the Castro regime responded by holding a show trial and executing possible witnesses linking the Castro brothers to cocaine trafficking.  High ranking officials were subjected to political show trials, were they admitted their guilt, and were then shot by firing squad

General Arnaldo Ochoa prior to being purged and executed in 1989.
General Arnaldo Ochoa, who backed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and had distinguished himself in South Africa in important battles against the Apartheid regime's army, had grown too popular among the troops, and had the mistaken idea that he had the right to an opinion.  Others like Tony de la Guardia were executed because they could have testified to the direct involvement of the Castro brothers in the drug trade.  Bad luck for his twin brother Patricio, who ended up sentenced to 30 years in prison.


Tony and Patricio de la Guardia at their show trial in 1989
No doubt officials in the Castro regime are looking around the room during official meetings wondering if they know too much, or are too popular and will be given the Ochoa or De la Guardia treatment.

Guilt or innocence does not matter, but if you have left a bad impression with Raul Castro or if your capture would lead to testimony that endangered him, or someone else in the Castro family then a show trial or a sudden fatal illness could easily result.

Not a fun time to be in the inner circle of the Castro regime. It also explains why Castro's foreign minister doth protest too much.



No comments:

Post a Comment