Cuban was imprisoned and shot during a life dedicated to overthrowing Castro
Luis Posada Carriles, who has died aged 90, was a Cuban-born former CIA operative who allegedly engaged for decades in terrorist action to overthrow Fidel Castro’s socialist dictatorship and was accused of orchestrating a string of deadly attacks on civilians.
In a life as improbable as it was notorious, Posada attended college in Havana a few years behind Castro (whom he recalled ‘‘dressed like a gangster’’), narrowly missed taking part in the disastrous US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, once escaped from a Venezuelan military prison disguised as a priest, was said to have masterminded the explosion of a
Cuban airliner and the bombing of hotels in
Havana, played a supporting role in the Irancontra scandal and was pierced by a dozen bullets during an attempt on his life in Guatemala.
‘‘The Cubans referred to him as the Osama bin Laden of Cuba. He was public enemy No 1,’’ said Peter Kornbluh, an independent researcher on Cuba. ‘‘Posada was a lifelong purveyor of violence, a militant anti-Castro international terrorist.’’
Posada, who was never convicted of violent crimes, maintained fervent support among many in the Cuban exile community. ‘‘The CIA taught us everything,’’ he told the New York Times in 1998. ‘‘They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage. When the Cubans were working for the CIA, they were called patriots . . . Now they call it terrorism. We were betrayed because Americans think like Americans.’’
Posada was born in Cienfuegos, in southern Cuba. At 17, he entered the University of Havana. There, he said he encountered Castro, a law student who was making a name for himself for his fiery, radical politics. Like many of his generation, Posada said he was opposed to Fulgencio Batista’s corrupt military junta, but was even more offended by what he called Castro’s bullying tactics and gun-wielding coterie.
After the 1959 revolution that overthrew Batista, Posada spent a short stint in a military prison for his open criticism of the new government’s confiscations of property and other actions he found morally objectionable. He once claimed he managed to escape and power his way into the Argentine embassy at gunpoint, eventually gaining safe passage to Buenos Aires and then heading to Miami, a beehive of anti-Castro radicalism.
There, he volunteered for the CIA-trained force of Cuban expatriates planning the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. But he was in a planned second wave, and the operation failed before his plane left the ground. Cuban counter-revolutionary b February 15, 1928 d May 23, 2018
He joined the US Army and trained in intelligence and demolition work. He continued his affiliation with the CIA before moving to Venezuela in 1967 and joining the security police.
His mandate was to eradicate Castroaligned guerrilla groups. He oversaw a network of informants, including hot dog vendors and gardeners, and his men pilfered trash from the Cuban embassy. But his reputation for violent excess – and rumours of involvement with drug trafficking – led to his firing in the mid-1970s.
The US also began to back away from any association with Posada, who tried to reingratiate himself with the CIA in the hope of getting US visas for him and his family. According to government documents released later, he told the agency of various plots, including one to blow up a Cubana Airlines jet, and reiterated his request for visas.
In October 1976, a Cubana DC-8 bound for Havana blew up soon after taking off after a stopover in Barbados, killing all 73 people on board, including teenagers from Cuba’s national fencing team. The explosives had been packed into a toothpaste tube.
Venezuelan investigators said they were able to trace the luggage carrying the explosives to men associated with Posada. He and several alleged accomplices spent the next nine years in a Venezuelan prison, all the while denying involvement. He escaped in 1985, wearing clerical garb.
Via shrimp boat and then private plane, Posada made his way to El Salvador, where he became part of the covert weapons supply line to US-backed contra rebels in Nicaragua battling the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government. When the operation unravelled in 1986, Posada turned to private security work in Guatemala.
He became a consultant to the democratically elected president, Vinicio Cerezo, who took power after a decades-long civil war and military dictatorship. Posada was tasked with watching out for a potential coup by disgruntled officers or assassination attempts by Left-wing guerrillas. In 1990, gunmen shot him 12 times while his car was trapped in Guatemala City traffic.
He survived, thanks to a speedy ambulance, but his recovery took years and required many surgeries. His nerves were damaged, his mouth was disfigured, and he spoke with a gravelly whisper. ‘‘My chin used to be an inch longer, very nice,’’ he quipped to the New York Times in 1998. ‘‘I was very handsome once.’’
In 2000, he was taken into custody in Panama for his alleged involvement in a plan to assassinate Castro, who was visiting for a summit. He received a presidential pardon after serving four years. He then entered the US illegally and sought political asylum, which led to his trial in 2011 on immigrationrelated charges. A federal jury acquitted him.
Posada died in Florida, from throat cancer. He was married twice; survivors include his second wife, Elina Nieves, and their two children. – Washington Post
‘‘The Cubans referred to him as the Osama bin Laden of Cuba. He was public enemy No 1.’’
Cuba researcher Peter Kornbluh