On July 10th it was reported that Cuba thwarted the attempts of a network of Cubans living in the United States who were trying to enter the island illicitly with weapons, and with the purpose of starting a reactionary outbreak. The Ministry of the Interior (Minint) disclosed details of a recruitment plan, neutralized in December 2023, directed, from U.S. territory, to promote and organize terrorist actions in Cuba.
In late November 2023, a Cuban citizen clandestinely entered Cuba by sea with firearms and ammunition. The individual, identified as Ardenys García Álvarez, entered the island through the Manuel Canal area, in the province of Matanzas, with a Jet Ski type nautical motorcycle, registered in the U.S. state of Florida.
Bullets and other arsenals were found during the seizure of the vehicle. Later, the authorities found that Garcia entered with five pistols of various origins and characteristics, cartridges including an American Tactical pistol and two different models of Smith & Wesson, manufactured in the United States, along with a Steyr, from Austria, and a Taurus, created in Brazil, along with rounds of ammunition.
Garcia was already known to Cuban officials. Before immigrating to the United States in 2014, he was already under suspicion for anti-social activities. He was discovered to have had contact with Willy González, a representative of the anti-Cuban group calling itself La Nueva Nación Cubana en Armas (The New Cuban Nation in Arms).
Garcia stated that the name of his recruiter was Dayan Quiñones, with whom he had exchanged messages via the social network Telegram. Subsequently, he had participated with the reactionary group in two military trainings.
During the training, the US-based Garcia mentioned a document that gave a reason for this paraphernalia. In this document of undefined authorship, those involved state their “determination to employ armed struggle, putting at risk the lives of a group of determined men, in order to save the lives of many others.” In essence, to launch armed attacks in Cuba.
Other real objectives behind this declaration of intentions were exposed in Willy Gonzalez’s multiple calls for the “awakening of the people,” through violence against offices, sugar cane fields, and the tobacco factories of Pinar del Rio…. “We are reaching the level when their will be physical harm,” he assured.
The story is even more sordid and involves many other reactionaries who roam the streets of Florida with the full complicity of U.S. authorities, despite Cuba’s denunciations. Another member of the New Cuban Nation in Arms, alluded to by the accused under the nickname of “El Lobo”, is Jorge Luis Fernandez Figueras, promoter and financier of aggressive actions directed against children’s circles, schools, polyclinics and the warehouses of the Basic Electric Organization, especially in the municipality of San Miguel del Padron, in the province of Havana.
On Monday, July 8th Venezuela News published a full interview that journalist Pedro Carvajalino conducted with the former commander of the paramilitary, and US-backed United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), Salvatore Mancuso.
In late June, he revealed details about the Venezuelan far-right’s plans to destabilize the administration of the late President Hugo Chavez in 2002. More specifically, Mancuso disclosed that the Venezuelan opposition sought to execute a coup d’état with the support of Colombian armed groups.
“There was significant interest from Venezuelan politicians and businessmen who came to Colombia seeking support from the paramilitaries to overthrow President Chavez… With the backing of some Venezuelan military members, they wanted to bomb Miraflores and kill Chavez at a bankers’ meeting,” Mancuso said.
Among the Venezuelan far-right politicians mentioned by Mancuso are Henrique Capriles, Oswaldo Alvarez Paz, Zingg Machado, and Alfredo Catalan. To carry out their plans, the Venezuelan far-right also sought advice on torture techniques from the ‘Israeli’ mercenary Yair Klein, according to the interview published by Venezuelan News
“They were taught to use different methods, which indeed involved torture, such as placing a bag over the head, water, and all these things,” Mancuso recalled.
Up to today, the imperialist plotting continued. There was also a plan that was aimed at creating the impression of a “civil war” in Venezuela on July 28, the day of the country’s presidential election, in which Maduro is a candidate.
Authorities opened the investigation after the Colombian paramilitary Autodefensas Conquistadores de la Sierra Nevada (ACSN) released a video on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that Venezuelan far-right groups had contacted its units in the department of La Guajira to destabilize the Venezuelan government. The group claimed that these groups made various requests, including attacking electrical infrastructure, acting against presidential candidate Nicolás Maduro, and, in the event of his re-election, infiltrating protests and creating chaos in the streets. They said that their organization does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and indicated that they would contact the Venezuelan diplomatic authorities to disclose further details.