On 8 July 2024, the Cuban government announced that it had foiled a major terrorist plot, planned and financed by counterrevolutionary elements based in the United States. This is just the latest in a long history of US terrorist attacks and provocations aimed at destabilising the socialist country. WILL JONES reports.
A well-funded and organised network
Ardenys García Álvarez, a 40-year-old Cuban citizen originally from the province of Cienfuegos but residing in the US since 2014, was detained in Cuba in November 2023 after landing at the Manui Canal in Matanzas on a jet-ski. He had transported five guns, ammunition, balaclavas and other tactical gear. An investigation was launched by the Ministry of the Interior (MININT).
The investigation found that García had contacted other individuals once in Cuba with the intention of recruiting them, claiming he was going to buy a farm to use as a base. He had received firearms training including the use of high-powered rifles from a US-based organisation called the New Cuban Nation in Arms. The group is a well-funded and armed organisation of right-wing extremists, with ties to Cuban exile counterrevolutionary groups. In statements broadcast by Cuban National Television, García said that he and two other terrorists were involved in the plot, with the leader of the group named as Willy González of Orlando, Florida, who contacted García to recruit him, and Jorge Luis ‘El Lobo’ (The Wolf) Figueras Fernández. García identified himself standing alongside the other men in the New Cuban Nation in Arms’ agitational videos.
González, in an interview with a Miami news channel, denied any involvement and claimed he did not recall meeting García: ‘Our organisation provides military training, but not with subversive objectives’; though he added that the ‘Nation in Arms’ is preparing militarily to support an armed uprising in Cuba. In González’s YouTube videos, clad in a US army surplus uniform, he regularly raves about a coming ‘war in Cuba’. Colonel Victor Álvarez Valle of MININT stated that previous terrorist plots in Cuba had been carried out by individuals who claimed to have received inspiration, organisation and financing from González and El Lobo. These include Molotov cocktail attacks against electrical infrastructure, public buildings and warehouses in San Miguel de Padron in 2017-2020.
In December 2023 the Official Gazette of Cuba published a list of 61 individuals and nearly 20 organisations, all Cubans residing abroad, under investigation for alleged terrorist activities – this is in compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1373 which requires member states to pursue, investigate and sanction individuals involved in international terrorism. Colonel Álvarez explained that the Cuban government had reported this terrorist organisation on numerous occasions to the US authorities, ‘and yet [the New Cuban Nation in Arms] continues to acquire weapons, carry out shooting practice, recruit people and obtain accommodation’. Far from obeying international law and cooperating with Cuba, the US government maintains Cuba on its list of ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ which harms countries’ ability to access trade, credit and finance from international institutions and banks dominated by US imperialism.
A long history of US terrorism
The failed plot is a worrying revival of the dark days of open terrorist violence against Cuba launched from US soil by Florida-based Cuban exile groups. Since the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Caribbean nation has been a beacon of socialism and anti-imperialism in the Americas, providing an inspiration to oppressed people worldwide. However, this has made it a target of US imperialism which seeks to crush the Cuban revolution under a 62-year illegal blockade and restore capitalism to the country.
The US has a long history of sponsoring and supporting counterrevolutionary terrorist groups against Cuba, dating back to the failed Playa Giron (Bay of Pigs) invasion of 1961. This invasion, organised and directed by the CIA under the auspices of Operation Mongoose, was a blatant attempt to overthrow the revolutionary government and install a pro-US dictatorship. It was defeated by the bravery and determination of the Cuban people and their revolutionary armed forces, but the country has faced a relentless campaign of terrorism and economic warfare ever since.
In the 1960s-90s, Cuban exile groups carried out a string of attempted terrorist attacks and invasions of Cuban territory, often with tragic consequences such as the Cubana Flight 455 bombing in 1976 which killed all 73 passengers on board. Despite the clear and present danger posed by these individuals and groups, the United States has consistently refused to act against them.
García left Cuba illegally in 2014 with a criminal record for speculation and robbery and has resided in the US since then; he was later prosecuted by the US Federal Government as part of an investigation into human trafficking between September 2021 and May 2023. That he was able to obtain weapons and training from a militant group, then execute a plan to travel to Cuba and carry out terrorist activities, all while being on the radar of the Federal Government, demonstrates that the failed plot was US-state sponsored terrorism.
In the face of this latest aggression, the Cuban people have once again shown their resilience and determination to defend their revolution. As we condemn this latest terrorist plot and the ongoing US blockade, we must also demand that the US government immediately remove Cuba from its spurious list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Hands off Cuba! No to US aggression! Long live the Cuban Revolution!
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 301 August/September 2024
