U Not Gonna Like This

More on the man, the myth, the legend that is Fidel Castro.

From Discover The Networks (link):

Castro had only been in power two months when he started sending armed guerrillas to attempt the overthrow of neighboring nations. The Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela were the early targets. In fact Castro's very first trip abroad as head of state was to Caracas, where on January 25th, 1959 he implored then Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt to join his "master plan against the gringos!" Basically this involved massive loans, financial aid and shipments of free oil to Castro from Venezuela, Betancourt balked and no sooner had Castro returned home empty handed, then he was planning subversion in Venezuela, including assassination attempts against Betancourt.



For 34 years Markus Wolf was the chief of East Germany's foreign intelligence service, a branch of the STASI with many contacts and operations in Castro's Cuba. It was the STASI rather than the KGB that undertook the training of Castro's police and intelligence services. Wolf's autobiography is titled, "Man Without a Face" and subtitled, "The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest Spymaster." Most intelligence experts agree that the subtitle fits. Wolf was once asked about the Kennedy assassination and quickly replied. "Don't ask me -- ask Fidel Castro."



Among other initiatives at the Conference, Cuba formed OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the People from Africa, Asia and Latin America.) and the DLN (National Liberation Directorate). This later was under the direction of KGB Col. Vadim Kotchergine and set up massive terrorist training camps in western Cuba. These were soon filled with guerrillas and terrorists from Al Fatah, to the Sandinistas, to El Salvador's FMLF, to the Tupamaros to the Weather Underground to the IRA and Spain's ETA.




In 1968 Castro sent military instructors into Palestinian bases in Jordan to train Palestinian Fedayeen. In November 1974 Castro personally decorated his brother-in-arms, Yasir Arafat, with Cuba's highest honor, the Bay of Pigs Medal. The Egyptian newspaper Ahar Sa'ah reported in September 13, 1978 that 500 Palestinian fighters were training in Cuba.



Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the infamous "Carlos The Jackal" known as the world's most notorious terrorist throughout the 1970's received his training in Cuba and lived in Cuba for years. Everyone from America's Black Liberation Army to Puerto Rico's Macheteros, to South Yemen's NLF, to Argentina's Monteneros, to Colombia's ELN , to Namibia's SWAPO, to the Black Panthers, to Western Sahara's Polisaro to the IRA have received training and funding from Castro. "Thanks to Castro," boasted Colombia's FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) commander Tiro-Fijo in a 2001 interview, "we are now a powerful army, not a hit and run band."

Lean more about Castro by visiting these links:

UK Leftists Praise Chavez, Castro (link)

Castro's East-German Terror Education (link)

Castro and Terrorism: A Chronology (link)

Hollywood's Mindless Love Affair With Castro (link)

Cuba Expects Big Show of Support at UN (link)

Obama 'Won't Wait for Castro to Die' Before Opening Ties (link)

Megaphone for a Dictator (link)



Sites that cover current life in Cuba under Fidel Castro

http://therealcuba.com (highly reccomended)

http://www.lacasacuba.com/

http://www.netforcuba.org/

http://www.netforcuba.org/blog/

http://postaldecuba.com/blog2/

http://www.habanacuba.com/

http://www.nocastro.com/

http://www.noticierocuba.com/

http://ramminternational.blogspot.com/

http://blogforcuba.typepad.com/my_weblog/

http://elcubanocafe.blogspot.com/

http://ideasocultas.blogspot.com/

http://cubacompanioni.blogspot.com/

http://www.casacuba.org/

http://www.militaramilitar.com/

http://www.cubanology.com/

http://babalublog.com/

http://www.lacasacuba.com/

http://www.cubanosmex.com/

http://www.habanacuba.com/

http://www.cubaeuropa.com/

http://candidatesoncuba.blogspot.com/

http://www.abajofidel.blogspot.com/

http://cubatruthproject.blogspot.com/

http://www.castrodeathwatch.com/

http://ninetymilesaway.blogspot.com/

http://workingtowardsafreecuba.blogspot.com/

http://cubaarchive.org/home/index.php