Fernando González Llort (File)
What are Cubans doing these days? Fernando Gonzalez Llort in Brazil, more precisely in Belém, in the state of Pará, where he was received with honors by the mayor on June 7th Edimilson Rodrigues, the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL)? The question is valid since Fernando González is not just any Cuban, but none other than one of those who “Miami five” to which the government of Fidel Castro described them as heroes while the United States condemned them as dangerous spies in the service of Havana. It is one of the most famous sites in the history of Cuban espionage in the long post-Cold War period of the 1990s. At that time, Cuba was going through its worst economic phase, the so-called “special period“, due to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which ended the flow of aid from Moscow.
The five agents in the service of Fidel Castro, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalezwere arrested on September 12, 1998 in Miami, USA on charges of espionage. They were part of the Wasp Network, made up of at least 27 Cuban spies. According to US authorities, they had infiltrated Cuban-American opposition groups against the Fidel Castro regime, including Alpha 66, the F4 Commandos, the Cuban-American National Foundation and the Brothers to the Rescue. One of the five, Gerardo Hernández, was also accused of using his information to allow two planes belonging to the Hermanos al Rescate group to be shot down in the sky over Cuba on February 24, 1996, killing four people.
After denying this, the Castro government finally admitted it all five were spiesbut that their target was the Cuban exile communities in the United States, from which they feared attacks on the island rather than US military bases. René González was released in 2011, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino returned to Cuba in 2014 Thanks to a prisoner exchange with the United States. Fernando González was also released in 2014 and received as a hero by Fidel Castro in Cuba.. “What you did was a true achievement. With your determination over so many years, you have shown what the youth shaped by the Cuban revolution is like,” Fidel told him when he received him.
Nine years later, Brazil also received Fernando González with the honor of an official visit. His stay in Pará, which ends tomorrow, is due to an official invitation from Brazil, which is in Belém for the XXVI. Solidarity Convention with Cuba. González was invited because he is President of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with Peoples (ICAP). For the man who, in the late 1980s, was trained by the G2, the Directorate General of Intelligence of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, to become one of the regime’s top spies, modeled on the KGB and the Stasi, this new role is not a break with the past, but one Continuity. In fact, according to Semana magazine, ICAP is known for being an arm of Cuban intelligence for meddling activities outside the island, as in the case of the Basque and Catalan independence movements or in Colombia for the 2022 elections.
Fernando González was released in 2014 and received as a hero by Fidel Castro (EFE/Alejandro Ernesto) in Cuba.
According to the website of the Cuban state of Prensa Latina, the aim of this solidarity convention with Cuba in Brazil is not only to “intensify fraternal actions” but also “to condemn the US blockade and strengthen the defense of the revolutionary process on the island”. “. In addition to cooperation in education, health, vaccines and tourism, according to Prensa Latina, Cuba also wants to work with Brazil to “strengthen the defense of the Cuban Revolution and the sovereignty of the Latin American peoples”. “On the issues that will be addressed must,” explains Prensa Latina, “part of the policy is confrontation with the US siege.”
In recent days, several officials of the Cuban regime have visited friendly countries in addition to Brazil. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and the two education ministers, Naima Ariatne Trujillo Barrero and Walter Baluja García, traveled to Russia. The shadow of Moscow and Beijing, the main players in this multipolar world, supported by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his public statements, will no doubt also hang over the next meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum, the 26th, the one in between in Brasilia will take place June 29 and July 2, to which Lula has been invited. The Sao Paulo Forum was founded by Lula and Fidel Castro in 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the aim of reviving Soviet ideas in Latin America in an anti-US role. These include organizations and political parties such as the Labor Party (PT). As reported by several Brazilian newspapers, including the Estado de São Paulo newspaper and the weekly Veja, the opening of the forum in 1990 was attended by the then leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Pedro Antonio Marín, known as Manuel Marulanda or Tirofijo sent a letter of support. At this year’s meeting, they will again talk about Colombia and in particular the numerous crises that are weakening Gustavo Petro’s government.
However, Cuba is still present in Brazil with the “More Doctors” program.. In the first month of Lula’s administration, a federal judiciary ruling reactivated the programs and contracts of some 1,700 Cuban doctors terminated by the Temer government in 2018. Human Rights Watch has accused the Havana government’s medical program of human rights abuses. The doctors get 10% of the salary, while 90% goes directly to the dictatorship in Havana. In the past, the Brazilian Congress has also debated the threat of espionage activities in the program. This issue came to the fore again after the Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing had paid the Cuban regime billions of dollars to build an electronic wiretapping facility on the island.
In Brazil, Beijing does not need Cuba to conduct espionage activities. However, Beijing’s espionage activities could also benefit Cuba and Russia in a Latin America that has become the theater of a Cold War 2.0, in which the United States and its Western allies now face a multipolar bloc.. In fact, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has a long history of developing infrastructure and access around the world. Brazil, like Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba in Latin America, hosts one of Beijing’s satellite ground stations. It should be remembered that all telemetry, surveillance and control activities of the satellites and their stations are managed by the Chinese military PLA Strategic Support Force (PLASSF).
According to the report “Eyes in the Sky – China’s Growing Space Footprint in South America” by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, it is known that the site chosen for the Chinese station in Brazil – built by the Chinese company Beijing Tianlian Space Technology together with a Brazilian start-up – en tucano, in the state of Bahia. According to the message In the case of the ground station Espacio Lejano in Neuquén (Argentina) and also the satellite station Santiago (Chile), there have already been suspected cases of espionage, operated by the Swedish Space Corporation but with two antennas managed by the Chinese military. The warning therefore remains. very high across the region not only because of the Chinese interference, but also because of the Russian, Iranian and Cuban interference. The risk of espionage activities in space is so high that for the first time in its history, as revealed by US analytics site DefenseScoop, the US Cyber Command has deployed a cyber defense team to a Latin American country named For security reasons, this has been done not announced.
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