The ELN has become one of the region’s most powerful organised crime groups. (EPA Images pic)
Rick Hahn, the FBI agent who investigated the FALN, provided a review of the case file in 2019.
Ignoring the Cuban dictatorship’s six decade and ongoing sponsorship of and engaging in terrorism to achieve political objectives has repeatedly proven disastrous for Western democracies.
Lets us hope with these two anniversaries Americans and Europeans reflect on what happened, and the current actions by Havana, and hold the dictatorship’s elite accountable.
An excellent documentary by Iñaki Arteta about Gregorio Ordóñez, murdered by ETA in 1995
On January 23, 1995, the terrorist group ETA murdered Gregorio Ordóñez, a regional deputy and councilor for the Popular Party.
’27 Minutes’, an excellent short film about one of the crimes committed by ETA terrorists
Fabio Moreno: the 2-year-old boy killed by ETA terrorists with a bomb
The murder was carried out with a shot to the head when Gregorio was eating with other people in a restaurant in the Old Town of San Sebastian. Today, 30 years after that crime, the CEU-CEFAS Observatory of Victims of Terrorism has released the documentary “This is a true story”, directed by Iñaki Arteta.
In the documentary we can hear the testimonies of Ana Iríbar, Gregogio’s widow; Javier, his son; María San Gil, who was with Gregorio at the time he was murdered; and José María Aznar, former president of the government, whom ETA tried to assassinate in an attack carried out three months after Gregorio’s murder (the video is in English, you can activate automatic subtitles in Spanish in the bottom bar of the player):
Today there is much talk of “historical memory” and “democratic memory” from the same left that seeks to subdue the brutal wave of separatist terrorism perpetrated by ETA for decades until July 30, 2009, when this mafia stopped killing simply because the socialists decided to give in to their blackmail. We must not forget that in addition to the people killed, injured and mutilated, ETA expelled 180,000 Basques and Navarrese from their homeland, a mass exile caused by terrorism and which today electorally benefits those who for many years instigated and justified ETA’s crimes and pointed out its objectives, and today organize tributes to the murderers with total impunity thanks to the complicity of the Sánchez government.
Memory, Dignity and Justice
Colombian Prosecutors Reactivate Arrest Warrants for ELN Peace Negotiators Protected by Cuba
Since the guerrillas began attacks against the 33rd Front of the FARC dissidents, some 80 people have been killed in Catatumbo
EFE/14ymedio, Bogotá/Madrid, 22 January 2025 — The Colombian Attorney General’s Office has decided to reactivate the arrest warrants against peace negotiators from the National Liberation Army (ELN) after Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered the suspension of talks due to the “war crimes” that the guerrilla group is committing in Catatumbo.
“Failure to comply with the conditions for the suspension of arrest warrants and, in particular, the commission of new crimes by members of the ELN, gives rise to reactivating the arrest warrants suspended at the time at the request of the president,” states a resolution issued by the Attorney General, Luz Adriana Camargo.
The Prosecutor’s Office had lifted the orders against 31 members of the ELN, including members of its leadership, alias Antonio García, Pablo Beltrán or Aureliano Carbonell, so that in November 2022 peace negotiations with the Petro Government would resume. The guerrilla leaders have moved in recent years between Venezuela and Cuba, a country that hosted these talks between 2018 and 2019, the year in which they were frozen.
The relationship between Havana and the ELN leadership is, in fact, at the origin of Cuba’s inclusion on the United States’ list of countries sponsoring terrorism in 2021.
The relationship between Havana and the ELN leadership is, in fact, at the origin of Cuba’s inclusion on the United States’ list of countries sponsoring terrorism in 2021, during the first administration of Donald Trump. Inclusion on the list was at the request of Colombia, because the island refused to extradite members of the guerrilla group who were on its territory. The talks had been stalled after an attack by that guerrilla group against the Police School in Bogotá in January 2019, where 23 people died and nearly a hundred were injured.
Negotiations were formally suspended on Friday by order of Petro, after the ELN launched an offensive against a FARC dissident group in Catatumbo the day before, which has left more than 80 dead, including social leaders and peace signatories, and has led to the displacement of 32,000 people, as well as kidnappings and confinements.
The revocation of the benefits of suspension of arrest warrants, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, responds to “the seriousness of the criminal acts” perpetrated by the guerrillas.
“The violence unleashed since January 16, which led to the current humanitarian tragedy and multiple crimes, in addition to putting at risk the lives and integrity of the civilian population, social leaders, signatories of the peace agreement and their families, was attributed on social network X to the ELN through one of its top leaders, Eliécer Herlinto Chamorro Acosta, alias ’Antonio García’,” the prosecuting agency explained in a statement.
The ombudsman, Iris Marín, said yesterday that the number of displaced people after six days of offensive rose to 32,000
The ombudsman, Iris Marín, said yesterday that the number of displaced people after six days of offensive rose to 32,000, with half of them in Cúcuta, the capital of the department of Norte de Santander, to which Catatumbo belongs.
Since the ELN began attacks against the 33rd Front of the FARC dissidents, some 80 people have been killed in Catatumbo, according to figures from the Government of Norte de Santander, including at least six of the signatories of the 2016 peace agreement.
However, Marín said yesterday that the Institute of Legal Medicine has received only 35 lifeless bodies, of which two have not yet been identified.
This is because the situation in many rural areas remains uncertain due to the fact that access is not possible, even by the Military Forces, who are limiting themselves to delivering humanitarian aid and rescuing injured or at-risk people.
The humanitarian and security crisis in Catatumbo was announced by various authorities, including the Ombudsman’s Office, which on November 15, through its early warning system, warned of “the risk situation” for the civilian population due to the presence and threats of illegal armed groups.
Given the situation, the president announced on Monday that he was going to declare a state of internal unrest and an economic emergency, measures for which he has not yet issued the decrees.
POMPEO: Biden’s Final Betrayal of Liberty Removing Cuba From Terror Sponsor List
The Biden Administration’s decision to remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST) in exchange for the release of political prisoners held by the Cuban regime demonstrated, one final time, its inability to discern America’s allies from its adversaries in a final stroke of the weakness Biden has consistently demonstrated as President. Team Biden’s insistence on “normalizing” America’s relations with regimes intent on undermining and harming America has made the world a far more dangerous place in just four short years. The incoming Trump Administration should demonstrate the same good sense and strength we showed during our first term in office and reverse this designation as soon as possible.
Cuba’s history of supporting and harboring individuals involved in acts of terrorism is well-documented. The Cuban regime has provided a safe haven to U.S. fugitives, including Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur), who was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper. During my tenure as Secretary of State, I cited this as a primary reason for our decision to label Cuba with the SST designation. The Cuban regime’s blatant refusal to honor our extradition requests and instead provide shelter to those who have committed violent crimes against Americans demonstrated the regime’s continued hostility toward our nation. By removing the SST designation without actually securing the extradition of these individuals, the Biden Administration displayed the same weakness that has marked its tenure.
Moreover, Cuba has also demonstrated its support for violent insurgent groups in Central and South America, notably the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN). After the ELN’s bombing of a police academy in Bogotá in 2019, which killed 22 people, Cuba refused to extradite the group’s leaders, citing its role as a “mediator” in Colombia’s peace process. If the regime actually cared about these things, it would have handed over those who murdered innocent Colombians. Instead, it chose to enable the ELN and further contributed to terrorism and insurgency in the region.
Cuba’s alignment with dangerous and anti-American authoritarian regimes further justifies its inclusion on the SST list. Just last year, the Cuban regime hosted the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Havana, where Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel pledged to “confront . . . Yankee imperialism and its allies with a tenacious resistance.” The regime’s intention to develop closer ties with the number one global state sponsor of terror to undermine America could not have been made more clear – so why has the Biden Administration decided that now is the “opportune moment” to lift the designation?
The Cuban government has also consistently supported Nicolás Maduro’s brutal regime in Venezuela, providing intelligence and security assistance that has proved critical to Maduro’s survival. In doing so, the Cuban regime has contributed greatly to the repression of the Venezuelan people, the perpetuation of a humanitarian crisis, and the destabilization of the region. Of course, the Biden Administration also eased sanctions on Maduro’s regime, so lifting Cuba’s SST designation is just par for the course. This sends the message that the United States is unwilling or unable to take actions that bolster our national security in our own hemisphere. And it has led to the continuation of the illegitimately elected Maduro regime.
This is troubling because the Chinese Communist Party has made rapid and strategic inroads across Central and South America – and Cuba is no exception. In the past four years, Cuba has strengthened its ties with the CCP through intelligence collaboration and technological support. This poses serious threats to U.S. national security, just as the Soviet Union’s involvement with the Castro regime posed serious threats decades ago. The SST designation was one avenue to slow this growing relationship by imposing restrictions on financial transactions, deterring foreign investments, and limiting Cuba’s access to international markets. These measures were far from a panacea, but lifting the SST designation will only make it more difficult to monitor or slow the development of the Cuban regime’s ties with actors hostile to the United States.
Lifting Cuba’s SST designation is a betrayal of Cuban-Americans living in the United States today, many of whom lost loved ones to the Castro regime’s brutality. It is also a betrayal of the American people to enable a hostile adversary – just an hour’s flight away from Miami – to grow in power and wealth. In the first Trump Administration, we designated Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism because that’s what Cuba is. We acted to protect America and, hopefully, took the necessary steps toward one day liberating Cubans from the rule of the communist regime in Havana. The Biden Administration betrayed Americans and Cubans alike by lifting this designation – I hope the Trump Administration corrects this mistake and restores American strength.
Why a return to Obama-era policy on Cuba would be a big mistake
by John Suarez, opinion contributor – 01/08/25 12:00 PM ET
Ten years after Barack Obama’s surprise reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba, rolled back by Donald Trump in 2017, some are now opining on President Biden’s legacy by calling for a return to Obama’s failed policy. But they are leaving out key facts to advance their claim that the 2014 thaw was successful.
The late Democratic senator for New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, observed that “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” This also holds true in the conversation over U.S.-Cuba policy. President Obama’s claim that the U.S. “changing its relationship with the people of Cuba” was among “the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years” ignored the past actions of the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations to do the same.
The repeated good-faith unilateral concessions by Washington, under these four prior presidencies, were responded to by Havana with actions that negatively impacted U.S. national interests in Latin America, Africa and in the United States. This included facilitating the entry of narcotics into the United States, giving terrorists safe harbor, resources and training that resulted in the deaths of Americans on American soil in 1975 and 1977, and directly participating in state terrorism in international airspace that resulted in the deaths of Americans in 1996.
In 2015, the Obama State Department removed Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism in response to a public demand by Raul Castro that the full restoration of diplomatic relations be contingent upon Cuba being removed from the list.
During Obama’s thaw with Havana, violence increased against Cuban dissidents, the Cuban government weaponized migration, with over 120,000 Cubans entering the United States through Central America, and U.S. diplomats in Havana began suffering brain damage in 2016 in what the Biden administration would call “anomalous health incidents but became better known as the Havana Syndrome.
Furthermore, defenders of Obama’s Cuba policy make no mention of diplomatic slights against Obama by Havana, including Raul Castro presiding over a military parade on Jan. 2, 2017, where Cuban soldiers chanted they’d shoot Obama so many times in the head that they’d make him a hat of lead.
Despite this, on his way out of office, Obama provided two additional concessions responding positively to two long-standing demands by the Cuban dictatorship: ending the Wet-Foot Dry-Foot policy, which allowed Cuban legal status if they touched U.S. soil, and the Cuban Professional Medical Parole program, which provided trafficked Cuban doctors with asylum. These policy changes hurt ordinary Cubans, but helped the dictatorship.
The Trump administration did not end all of the Obama thaw, but did pursue a policy of not providing resources to the Cuban military, and providing victims of the dictatorship a new avenue for redress.
After normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations, Obama’s secretary of State, John Kerry said in an interview on Sept. 9, 2020, “It’s fair to say that everybody shares a little bit of disappointment about the direction that the government in Cuba chose to go.” Kerry continued, “Cuba seemed to harden down after the initial steps were taken.”
Candidate Joe Biden on the campaign trail in 2020 said he wanted to return to the Obama opening, but facts on the ground forced him to change course. The images coming out of Cuba of regime agents beating and gunning down nonviolent protesters during nationwide protests of July 2021, then following up with draconian prison sentences against many of the demonstrators, made rapprochement with the dictatorship politically untenable.
Nevertheless, President Biden, 10 months after the July 2021 protests and crackdown, provided unilateral concessions to Havana in what was euphemistically described as “new measures to support the Cuban people” but contained specific actions that empowered the dictatorship. For example, the expansion of educational exchanges ignored FBI concerns about Havana using these openings to recruit spies and undermine U.S. national security. This policy also loosened travel restrictions.
The Cuban military through its conglomerate, the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., and its sub-entity Gaviota, the military’s tourism arm, profited from the expansion of authorized travel by the Obama and Biden administrations, but the Castro regime could not fully exploit it due to poor decisions taken by Havana.
Moscow offered Havana $1.36 billion in 2015 to repair and build new generators, but Cuban officials did not take them up on it, due to other priorities. While Cuba’s infrastructure collapses due to lack of maintenance, the dictatorship continues to build luxury hotels across the country with their own generators for tourists, as millions of Cubans are kept in the dark. It did not have to be that way, but it is Havana’s — not Washington’s — fault.
The European Union and Canada continue to send millions of Euros and Canadian dollars to the Cuban dictatorship. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, stated in Havana on May 25, 2023, that the 27-member bloc remained Cuba’s biggest trading partner and one devoted to “mutual respect.” He said that the EU accounted for about one-third of the island’s foreign trade, “versus 8% by China or 8% by Russia,” reported Euractiv on May 26, 2023.
This economic engagement has not prevented Cuban soldiers from donning Russian uniforms and fighting for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Havana openly supporting Moscow’s invasion of its European neighbor ,or Cuban agents assisting Nicolas Maduro in undermining democracy in Venezuela and torturing Venezuelan dissidents.
The advocates for returning to the Obama Cuba policy would have the United States join in the complicity of the European Union and Canada in subsidizing with tax dollars a 65-year-old dictatorship, helping to enrich a corrupt ruling class while everyday Cubans continue to suffer under their oppressive rule, and providing Havana resources to help create more Nicaraguas and Venezuelas in Latin America and sponsor international terrorism.
John Suarez is the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, and a former program officer for Latin America programs at Freedom House.