Is Alpha 66 a Terrorist Organization?

Source: http://www.poptel.org.uk

Alpha 66 says it carried out bomb attacks

THE Cuban exile terrorist group, Alpha 66, has claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks which hit three Cuban hotels and a tour agency offices this summer.

The daily Granma said declarations by the radical Miami based Alpha 66 "put in ridicule" US demands that Cuba prove its claims that U.S. based groups were behind the bombings.

"Our cells in Cuba" were responsible, said Nazario Sargen, secretary general of Alpha 66. "All the violence that's happening in Cuba has something to do with our contacts."

There were three explosions in different locations in Havana. Two on July 12 in the Nacional and Capri hotels in Havana caused minor injuries to three people, and one in the Melia Cohiba hotel on August 4, followed an attack on the offices of the state run Havanatur travel agency in Nassau on the same day.

In April and May two other devices were found in hotel rooms and defused before they could cause damage.

The Cuban government says it has evidence that links the bombings to terrorist groups in the United States and it accuses the United States of sponsoring measures to cripple the economy that go beyond the U.S.-imposed economic embargo.

In June, after two devices were found in hotel rooms, the FBI launched an investigation into the possible US origins of the explosive known as C-4 which was used in all the attacks. The investigation was dropped mysteriously after proving inconclusive. C-4 is a plastic explosive manufactured in the United States and exported to many developing countries.

"What's the difference," asked a Cuban official, "between openly attempting to destroy our economy and covertly using terrorism to accomplish the same end?" But the Unites States denied the accusations.

The Miami Herald, taking advantage of these events and guided by their Cuban "expert" pointed at inner dissatisfaction and possible involvement of renegade military who, in their opinion, were unhappy and provided not only the explosives but access to the hotel lobbies.

In recent years, Cuba has accused the United States of plotting biological war, allowing anti-Castro exiles to plan terrorism from U.S. territory and of illegally waging war against its economy.

If President Clinton wants anti-terrorism to remain a solid pillar of U.S. policy, he should be consistent. He should crack down on anti-Castro exiles in the United States who plan terrorism. The United States has never even apologised for the terrorism it conducted. Instead, each year the State Department routinely places Cuba on its terrorist nation list, even though the evidence points the other way.

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PASTORS FOR PEACE WINS LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST ALPHA 66

Source:
www.blythe.org

San Diego, July 13, 1998 (RHC)-- The U.S. religious/solidarity
organization Pastors for Peace has won a legal claim in the
State of California against a right-wing, extremist Cuban-
American group known as Alpha 66. Several members of the
group -- including Alpha 66 leaders -- attacked participants
of a humanitarian aid caravan near San Diego in May last year.
One vehicle, driven by members of the right-wing group,
attempted to force the caravan off an interstate highway,
repeatedly crashing into a Pastors for Peace vehicle, loaded
with supplies and eight passengers.

In a decision handed down by the Superior Court of California,
it was ruled that Alpha 66 members could not harass or
threaten Pastors for Peace, nor could they come within 50
yards of the religious organization's members or vehicles.

The court decision comes at the same time that the 8th U.S.-
Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, organized by Pastors for Peace,
is on the road. The material aid caravan is scheduled to
arrive in Texas later this week and will cross the border into
Mexico on July 20th. More than 500 tons of supplies,
including busses and several mobile libraries, will then be
shipped to Cuba from the port of Tampico.