UM Tries to Link Cuba to Al Qaeda

The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies, led by Prof. Jaime Suchlicki, claims that Cuba may have ties to Al Qaeda through the disputed North African territory of Western Sahara.

I wrote a story two years ago about Cuba's involvement in Western Sahara, and their forced education of Polisario children in Cuban boarding schools.

This is from my clip, dated Sept.19, 2005:

Saadani Ma Oulainie's first memory from childhood is seeing her father tortured publicly in front of her by the Polisario Front in North Africa when she was five.

After that, her memories of youth are a blur of forced separation, a flight to Cuba, sugar cane cutting, and an unending campaign by Cuban teachers to convince her that Allah was a farce and that Fidel Castro was the only person that mattered to her now.

As Ma Oulainie recalled her itinerant adolescence Saturday in Miami Beach as part of an effort by the Moroccan government to discredit the Polisario Front, she broke down crying, stopping just short of saying exactly how Castro-allied soldiers tortured her late father, who they had accused of being a Moroccan spy.

``We were stripped of our traditions, of our religion, they made us eat lots of pork,'' Oulainie said of her 15 years in Cuba, during which she never communicated with her parents. ``When I went back to Sahara, my father had died. Hundreds of Saharan children have been orphaned while they were forced to study in Cuba.''

Oulainie, one of thousands of children shipped to Cuba by the leftist Polisario for communist indoctrination, is in Miami this week along with several other Western Saharans, or Sahawaris, who have passed through the Polisario's refugee camps and prisons in the last 32 years. They hope their firsthand accusations of human-rights abuses and corruption will help bring attention to the plight of Western Saharans.

But like everything else in the post-9/11 world, the story of the the Sahawari plight is complex. Both the Polisario and Morocco, who are at odds over control of Western Sahara, have been accused of human-rights abuses against Sahawaris by Amnesty International, a respected human-rights organization."

According to an ICCAS staff report from this week:

"As the U.S. military offensive in Iraq intensifies, al-Qaeda affiliates are reportedly moving westward across North Africa. With the bulk of American combat forces locked down in Iraq for the foreseeable future, the desolate sands of the Sahara offer an environment from which terrorist cells could conceivably coordinate an offensive against U.S. interests and allied governments in the region. Like Taliban controlled Afghanistan, the disputed desert territory of Western Sahara may be emerging as a new haven for al-Qaeda and its proxies. Cuban influence in there has been strong for decades."

These are some photos of the people I interviewed for that article. See above posts for more info.

Comments

[victor]

And the check is in the mail..First let find Osama and ask him of his ties to Cuba.Then will ask him of his ties to the Bush family. Oh no,he knows to much about the Bushes...Thats where Osama is hiding!!!! BEHIND THE BUSHES!!! Yes,yes the bush behind the grassy knoll..Next question please.KEEP CHILDREN OUT OF BABALU BLOG!!!

[Chasli]

The suggestion "that Cuba may have ties to Al Qaeda through the disputed North African territory of Western Sahara" makes sense only if one understands that it is Morocco that occupies and rules most of the Western Sahara. For many years now Moroccan poverty, corruption , and misrule has created a steady supply of MOROCCAN terrorists, Islamists, and El Qaeda sympathizers. The suggestion that the El Qaeda sympathizers are Sahrawi or members of the Polisario Front is thoroughly preposerous. The Polisario has been consistantly hostile to El Qaeda and its ideology, and has no history of terrorist activity. There is absolutely no evidence that El Qaeda has ever made any kind of inroads among the Western Saharans. Terrorist bombings in Madrid and elsewhere in Europe have been traced back to MOROCCAN, not Saahrawi, Jihadists and Islamists. To try to pin an El Qaeda connection on the Sahrawi or Polisario is just plain dishonest, as no such connection exists.

Similarly, the information supplied in this article about abuses of Sahrawi children in Cuba and widespread abuses in the Western Saharan refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, bear the unmistakable marks of Moroccan propoganda. The UN High Commissioner of Refugees has looked into the accusation of Cuban abuses several times and has concluded that the Sahrawi children almost without exception love the opportunity to study in Cuba, given the paucity of educational opportunities in the refugee camps, and they are there with the permission of their parents.

On the accusations of abuses in the refugee camps by the Polisario Front, the UN for over thirty years now has been trying to organize a referendum whereby the Western Saharans would vote on their future status. If the Poliario were the abusers and the Moroccans the good guys, it would stand to reason that the election would end up very much in Morocco's favor. Why is it then that Morocco is the party that has obstructed the referendum for all these years? The answer is that the horror stories of Ms Oulainie and others are downright lies. For the last few years Morocco has spent millions of dollars to pay off people like Ms Aoulaine to spread false information about the Western Sahara and the Polisario, and has retained powerful PR firms like Edelman to spread its propaganda.

My point is that on several counts this article lacks any factual basis. Trying to connect El Qaeda to Cuba through the Western Sahara is just silly.

[de Leon]

JESUS RAUL PEREZ MENDEZ, chief of the Department of the Community Abroad of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and captain of the Cuban Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) defected on July 13, 1983, and informed the following:
That the America Department of the Cuban Communist Party (DA), the ICAP, and the DGI control the ANTONIO MACEO BRIGADE (BAM), CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA, CENTER FOR CUBAN STUDIES, VENCEREMOS BRIGADE (VB), NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BLACK LAWYERS, PARTIDO SOCIALISTA PUERTORRIQUEÑO-NYC, AND THE COMMUNIST PARTY USA. They are all controlled by ALFREDO GARCIA ALMEIDA, chief of the North American Section of the Americas Department and former political counselor at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in NYC, with the exception of CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, which is controlled by HECTOR MANUEL ZAYAS QUIALA, of the DGI, and second secretary of the Cuban Mission NYC.
The leaders of the BAM and the VB receive training of indoctrination in ideology, psychology, organization, propaganda techniques, interview techniques, and intelligence gathering. The groups are financed by illegal commercial activities of nartotics. The BAM serves for purposes of propaganda and intelligence. ANDRES GOMEZ, MARIANA GASTON ROCHE, ARMANDO D. GARCIA, and MANUEL R. GOMEZ CAINOS are controlled by the DGI. The ICAP considers ALBOR RUIZ SALAZAR unstable. ARMANDO D. GARCIA is a homosexual and MARIANA GASTON a prostitute.
The BAM is controlled by JESUS ARBOLEYA CERVERA, of the DGI in Cuba and former second secretary of the Cuban Mission in NYC, by way of FRANCISCO GONZALEZ ARUCA in Washington, D.C.; RAUL ALZAGA MANRESA in San Juan; MAURICIO
GASTON ROCHE and MIREM URIARTE in Boston; FELISA SOTO in Miami; ROSARIO MORENO in Los Angeles; ALICIA TORRES VIGIL in Chicago; and in New York with ARMANDO D. GARCIA, MARIANA GASTON ROCHE, ANDRES GOMEZ, AMELIA VICKIE MEDEROS, ELISEO PEREZ-STABLE and MARIFELI PEREZ-STABLE. When the BAM visits Cuba they are attended by JESUS ARBOLEYA CERVERA and NORMA PIÑEIRO, of the DGI.
RAFAEL BETANCOURT ABIO and OSVALDO ESTIVIL belong to the BAM in Miami. JOSE ANTONIO HERNANDEZ FRIAS, leader of the BAM in USA, was sent to Spain to organize the BAM there. REGINA CASAL was sent to Venezuela to organize the BAM there.
The BAM is financed by travel agencies in NYC and receive from $100 to $400 for each exile that travels to Cuba. MARAZUL was established to finance the BAM, AREITO, and the CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA, the BAM receiving the majority of the funds.
The daily activities of MARAZUL are controlled by FRANCISCO GONZALEZ ARUCA from Washington, D.C., who is controlled by JESUS ARBOLEYA CERVERA from Havana.
The CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA, EDICIONES VITRAL, and AREITO, are controlled by the DGI. ISIDRO GOMEZ and JESUS ARBOLEYA CERVERA, of the ICAP and the DGI, placed MARIFELI PEREZ-STABLE in charge of the CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA. She substituted the deceased LOURDES CASAL, who was DGI. The annual plans of MARIFELI are prepared by the DGI and ICAP. The CIRCULO DE CULTURA CUBANA and the BAM are maintained with funds generated by EDICIONES VITRAL, by way of the sale of books and records that are gifts of the Cuban Culture Ministry and are delivered by ICAP. MARIFELI receives $100 for each tourist that travels to Cuba with the CIRCULO DE
CULTURA CUBANA. MARIFELI was infiltrated in the INSTITUTE FOR CUBAN STUDIES of MARIA CRISTINA HERRERA, whose position was made more favorable toward Cuba.
In 1981 the leaders of AREITO met in Cuba with ISIDRO GOMEZ, FAUSTINO PELAEZ, and JORGE GALLARDO FERNANDEZ, of the ICAP and the DGI, and with CARLOS RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ, of the Communist Party, whom advised AREITO not to take positions so identical with those of the Cuban government.
ARNALDO ALONSO, president of CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, directs the BUREAU OF COMMUNITY SERVICES, with offices in the same locale as MARAZUL, who ship their packages to Cuba. ANDRES GOMEZ, who lived in Washington, D.C., was financed by MARAZUL. HAROLD MAYERSON, the lawyer for MARAZUL, and member of the NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD, with MICHAEL RATNER, are controlled by the DGI.
ARNALDO ALONZO was involved in a power struggle with CARLOS GARCIA in CASA DE LAS AMERICAS, where other members are LUIS MIRANDA, who the DGI suspects of being a CIA operative; ANA MARIA GARCIA, former member of the BAM; and OSCAR RUBEN CICCONE and his wife, who also belong to the BAM, VB, and the COMMUNIST PARTY USA.
Those of the AMERICA DEPARTMENT in the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in NYC control the VECEREMOS BRIGADE. GRACIELA TABIO MEDINA, official of the DA and of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, selects the members of the VENCEREMOS BRIGADE, whose leaders are: the anthropologist JOHNNETTA COLE, DARA TORPE, EDDY DEMMINGS, MICHELLE FRANK, JACKIE RAMOS, and CAROLYN BOSCH. The first three are controlled by the AMERICA DEPARTMENT. NANI MARTINEZ, of the VB, works in the United Methodist Church in NYC. ROBERTO REGALADO ALVAREZ, of the DGI and
first secretary of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, DC, controls the VENCEREMOS BRIGADE. SANDRA LEVINSON, of the VB and director of the CENTER FOR CUBAN STUDIES, is controlled by ICAP, although the DGI considers her a CIA operative.
MIGUEL FELIPE MARQUES is the secretary general of the ALIANCE OF COMMUNITY WORKERS in Newark, NJ, whose assistant is CARLOS ZALDIVAR ESCALONA, and both are controlled by JUSTO LUIS BETANCOURT and ISAIAS PEREZ, of the DGI.
The director of the Casa Cuba in Madrid, ROSENDO CANTO HERHANDEZ, receibes $1,000 monthly from ICAP from the sale of travel tickets of exiles to Cuba. The Casa Cuba is directed by: LIDIA ANDERSON in Canada; MARINES MEDERO in Mexico; and AQUINO in Caracas.

[h a s s a n]

Jaime Schu--, Schu---, Schulicki??

The same washed up cherub that seeks refuge in his cramped little office off of frat row in UM waiting for Jose Basulto's next visit?

Schulicki??

Yes, Jaime, there are MANY ripe and juicey terrorist targets to hit in the Sahara. That is why Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch (another of Jaime's homeys) are planning their next baby-killing fest for South Algeria.

*rolling eyes*

Por fa-VOR!

Jaime Schulicki??

Oye, Jaime, can you show us the sat img's that the CIA gave you autographed copies of?

[Mambi Watch]

Oscar thanks for not giving us the background on the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario. You may have failed a simple journalistic principle: reporting both sides fairly.