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<h1 id="reader-title">Who Are Those 'Gusanos' Who Celebrated
Fidel's Death?</h1>
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<p>December 6, 2016<br>
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<p>In a grotesque display of insensitivity, some Cubans in
Miami celebrated the death of revolutionary leader Fidel
Castro, carrying "Trump / Pence" signs, hoping to “Make
Cuba Great Again” by destroying the Cuban Revolution and
bringing back the racism, neocolonialism and fascism of
the Batista dictatorship. </p>
<p>"Gusanos," or worms is the term Fidel used to describe
the first 1960’s waves of wealthy white former
landowners who fled Cuba to the United States after the
overthrow of U.S.-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio
Batista. </p>
<p>These Cubans were welcomed, nurtured and harbored by
successive U.S.administrations, establishing themselves
as the most vocal force against the Cuban Revolution,
taking part in military operations and terror campaigns
against Cuba and of course backing the U.S. blockade
against the Cuban people. </p>
<p>The gusanos were behind the 1961 U.S.-backed Bay of
Pigs invasion, which Havana was able to defeat in 72
hours, capturing hundreds of mercenaries, many of whom
Cuba identified as plantation owners, Batista's
ex-military men, factory owners and businessmen. </p>
<p>In 2011, declassified CIA documents showed that one of
the key figures in the 1976 terrorist bombing of Cubana
Flight 455 was Luis Posada Carriles, a right-wing Cuban
who had fled the island after the revolution. </p>
<p>Posada Carriles, now 88, was also part of the failed
Bay of Pigs assault and was an informant for the CIA.
Orlando Bosch was another CIA agent who helped
mastermind the attack on the civilian plane. </p>
<p>The documents also show that Bosch received a phone
call from the bombers saying "a bus with 73 dogs went
off a cliff and all got killed." He is also connected to
terror attacks on Cuban hotels in 1997. </p>
<p>Bosch is well connected to the Bush family, having been
personally championed by Jeb Bush, when he was the
governor of Florida, and released from U.S. custody by
former President George H. W. Bush. </p>
<p>Another leader of the gusanos is Felix Rodriguez, who
is an ex-CIA agent known for having participated in the
Bay of Pigs invasion. He was sent by the CIA to Bolivia
to kill revolutionary leader Che Guevara in 1967. </p>
<p>He ordered that Guevara be “shot below the neck” so
that it would look as though he had been “killed in
combat.” </p>
<p>These Cuban terrorists are seen as heroes by the
counter-revolutionary Cuban community in the U.S., whose
ties to the murder of innocent Cubans has no bearing on
their conscience. </p>
<p>These gusanos are also among some of the most
right-wing politicians and celebrities in the U.S. and
the state of Florida. Rafael Diaz-Balart, who served as
a deputy interior minister in the Batista's regime is
the father of U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart and
Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans. </p>
<p>Another infamous member of the right-wing Cuban
community is Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican U.S.
Congresswoman who in 2014 proposed a bill calling for
sanctions on Venezuela. Meanwhile, former Florida
Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero III is the very
grandson of Batista. </p>
<p>Also of note is the Estefan family in Florida. Pop
singer Gloria Estefan's father was Batista’s bodyguard
and participated in the Bay of Pigs failed invasion. </p>
<p>But Fidel’s Cuba could not stand by and allow the
U.S.-backed gusanos to meddle with its internal affairs
and terrorize the Cuban people. </p>
<p>Five Cubans were sent by the government to the U.S. to
<a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/MINUTE-BY-MINUTE-Cuban-Five-Arrive-in-Venezuela-20150504-0007.html"
target="_blank">monitor</a> Miami-based terrorist
groups plotting to attack Cuba to avoid a further loss
of lives. </p>
<p>The Cuban 5, as they came to be known worldwide, were
imprisoned in the United States in 1998 and sentenced in
2001 on espionage charges. </p>
<p>After years of an international campaign calling for
their release, the last of the five was released in
December 2014, coinciding with announcements from Cuban
President Raul Castro and his U.S. counterpart Barack
Obama that the two countries would begin to re-establish
ties. </p>
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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