CUBAN
EXILE
ORGANIZATIONS
HARD-LINE: 1970s
[REF: binder part 7 ]
COORDINATION OF UNITED REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONS
(CORU)
This umbrella coalition was the result of a meeting which
was held in
Dominican
Republic throughout June 12-13, 1976. The following
anti-Castro
organizations
participated in those meetings and became the integral core
of
CORU.
Note: in April of 1980, Junta Patriotica Cubana (Cuban
Patriotic
Coalition)
replaced CORU as the self proclaimed central organizational
structure
of
the anti-Castro community.
EL PODER CUBANO
(CUBAN POWER OR ACCION CUBANA)
Originally established in the mid-1960s and headed by Dr.
Orlando
Bosch,
this organization was responsible for the first acts of
terrorism
committed
by an anti-Castro group on U.S. soil. Besides Bosch,
original
group
members consisted of:
Garcia, Juan (financial backer)
Cornillot, Hector
Bosco, Omar
Kabba, Ovidio
Constanza, Aton
Tamayo, Puly
Gonzalez Grajales, Luis
Gonzalez, Andres J. (Bombillo)
Balan Garcia, Barbaro
Mulet, Jose A.
Diaz, Jose
Rodriguez, Marco
Upon Bosch's departure and later incarceration in Venezuela,
Cuban
Power
disbanded. Bosch established Accion Cubana in the early
1970s for the
purpose
of collecting funds to subsidize his operations.
Original Accion
Cubana
group members included:
Cuervo, Silas
Perez Alamo, Dunney
Isa, Miguel
Colmenares, Jose A.
Roig, Pedro
de Castroverde, Waldo
Mendoza Rolando
MOVIMIENTO NACIONALISTA CUBANO (MNC)
(CUBAN NATIONALIST MOVEMENT)
The MNC was formed in 1963 and was associated with the Cuban
terrorist
organization
FLNC (headquartered in Miami). The organization
conducted acts of
terrorism
in several areas of the U.S., inclusive of New Jersey, New
York,
Washington
D.C., and Miami, FL.
In 1964, group member Guillermo Novo Sampol fired a bazooka
at the
United
Nations building as Ernesto "Che" Guevara prepared to
address the
General
Assembly of that organization. Three years later,
group leader
Felipe
Rivero was held on suspicion of possible involvement in a
terrorist
plot
to explode a Cuban pavilion at the Expo 67 Fair in Montreal,
Canada.
During the investigation into the homicide of Jose E. De La
Torriente
(April
12, 1974), members of this group were identified by a
confidential
source
as having conspired to assassinate De La Torriente.
In 1976, group members Jose Dionisio Suarez, Guillermo Novo
Sampol,
Ignacio
Novo Sampol, and Alvin Ross Diaz, were charged with the
murder of
Chilean
diplomat Orlando Letelier and his assistant Ronnie
Moffit. At the
time
Felipe Rivero was suspected of having masterminded the plot
along with
agents
of Augusto Pinochet's Chilean Government. Charges
against Rivero
never
materialized, and as a result, he continued his operations
in South
Florida
and New York City. Jose Dionisio Suarez was found
guilty and
sentenced
to 12 years in prison. All other group members
involved in the
Letelier
incident were originally found guilty and sentenced to life
imprisonment;
however, their conviction was later overturned by an appeals
court.
As a result of the negative publicity generated by the
Letelier
incident,
the MNC was disbanded. Group members included:
Suarez Esquivel, Jose Dionisio
---
Pulido,
Dr. Juan B.
Rivero, Felipe --- Novo
Sampol, Guillermo
Novo Sampol, Ignacio --- Vilaboa,
Napoleon
Mendez, Antonio --- Medina, Luis
Martinez, J.A. --- Atienza,
FRENTE DE LIBERACION NACIONAL DE CUBA (FLNC)
(CUBAN NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT)
At its inception the FLNC served as an umbrella organization
for
several
other Cuban revolutionary groups located in Miami, New York,
New
Jersey,
and outside the U.S. It is believed that internal
problems caused
a
splintering of the group and several group members continued
their
terrorist
activities as members of Omega 7 and MNC. Several FLNC
members
later
became involved in narcotics trafficking.
On October 5, 1975, Humberto Lopez, Jr. (injured in an
explosion while
assembling
a book bomb on March 20, 1974), a fugitive and identified
member of
FLNC,
was arrested by the FBI at Miami International
Airport. Lopez Jr.
was
deported to the Dominican Republic where he was arrested by
local
authorities
for violation of immigration laws. Lopez Jr's arrest
was
allegedly
the reason behind the bombing of the Dominican Consulate in
Miami, on
October
6, 1975.
From evidence gathered in the bombing of the Dominican
Republic
Consulate
and the bombing of the Russian Embassy in Bogota, Colombia,
which
occurred
on September 27, 1975, authorities could deduce that in
those two
bombings
the perpetrators meant to do harm not only to the buildings
but also to
the
occupants of the structures.
Frank Castro, alleged FLNC leader, was arrested at Miami
International
Airport
upon returning to Miami from Colombia on September 27, 1975
(the same
day
of the bombing of the Russian Embassy). The following
persons
were
identified as members of the FLNC:
Castro, Frank
--- Lopez
Jr.,
Humberto
Acosta, Orlando "Bebo" --- Perez
Dorestes,
Rafael
Arce, Sixto --- Muniz, Antonio
Angulo, Oscar ---
Sayus Jr.,
Alfredo
Lopez Avalo, Rogelio
Other CORU organizations included Brigade 2506 (possible
group members
acting
on their own behalf and Jovenes de la Estrella (Youth of the
Star), an
obscure
group led by Ramon Rodriguez.
NON-CORU ORGANIZATIONS
MOVIMIENTO INSURRECCIONAL MARTIANO (MIM)
INSURRECTIONAL JOSE MARTI MOVEMENT
MIM was formed in July of 1974 by former MNC member Hector
Alfonso Ruiz
(aka
Hector Fabian) with the alleged purpose of carrying out
terrorist acts
against
all Cuban Government installations or associates.
In April of 1975, MIM carried out several bombings
throughout the
United
States. The group claimed responsibility for the
bombings under
the
code name of "Joven Cuba Nacionalista and Los
Cruzados". At the
time,
MIM received support and economic funding from the Cuban
Federation of
Masons
and from Juan Garcia Cardenas, a convicted bomber in 1968,
and former
member
of Cuban Power.
In the latter part of the 1970s, MIM leadership suffered a
severe split
and
separated into two factions. One of the factions was
headed by
Ramon
Saul Sanchez (Omega 7 member and present Cuban National
Commission
leader),
the other faction was retained by Hector Alfonso Ruiz and
convicted
bomber
Luis Crespo. Crespo has continued to infiltrate Cuba
in order to
conduct
sabotage missions. MIM members included:
Alfonso Ruiz, Hector
---
Sanchez,
Ramon
Crespo, Luis ---
Perez, Jenaro
Lopez Avalo, Rogelio ---
Hernandez,
Francisco
Alvarino, Armando
---
Cabrera, Jose
Aguilar Manuel --- Campo, Jose
Rodriguez, Jose --- Suarez, Enrique
Miguel, Guillermo --- Gonzalez, Sergio
De La Vega, Sergio ---
Hernandez, Hilario
Hernandez, Juan
ABDALA
The name Abdala came from the first epic poem written by
Cuban patriot
Jose
Marti, about an Arab prince who forfeited all his
possessions for the
sake
of his nation.
Abdala was founded in 1968 by Gustavo Marin Duarte and
consisted mostly
of
young Cuban male militants. The group held an annual
congress
each
year in order to proclaim the liberation of Cuba and all
other
communist
ruled countries.
In 1972, the group demonstrated against the docking of
Russian ships in
Miami.
In 1975, the group claimed credit for the bombing of the
Torch of
Friendship
in Downtown, Miami and the bombing of the Venezuelan
Consulate in New
York
City. Allegedly, group members were also responsible
for the
bombing
assassination of Rolando Masferrer in 1975.
In 1975 Abdala demonstrated in front of the Metro Justice
Building as a
result
of the arrest of several group members. In 1982, the
group
demonstrated
at the Miami Police Department after a violent demonstration
between
police
and Cuban demonstrators. Though it appears that the
organization
has
since disbanded, its leader Gustavo Marin Duarte has
remained actively
involved
in Cuban exile activities. Group members included:
Marin Duarte, Gustavo
Alvarez, Lazaro
Viota, Leonardo
Font, Jose Antonio
LIGA ANTICOMUNISTA CUBANA (LAC)
ANTI-COMMUNIST LEAGUE
This organization formed in May 1975 with the purpose of
attempting to
control
all other revolutionary groups in Miami and with hope of
becoming an
international
anti-communist organization. Another reason given for
the
creation
of this organization was to educate Cuban exiles in the art
of passive
activist
tactics. This group had amongst its leaders,
individuals who had
been
arrested for neutrality violations and other criminal
statutes.
The main leader of this group was Hector Duran, Press
Attache for the
Chilean
Consulate in Miami. Other members included:
Acosta, Orlando "Bebo" --- Aleman Jr., Jose
Angulo, Oscar --- Cervera,
Javier
De La Fe, Ramiro --- Gonzalez, Hiram
Martinez, Eugenio R.
---
Torres Jimenez, Rafael
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