CHAVEZ ASSISTS CASTRO
IN MOVING OFFENSIVE WEAPONS
INTO CUBA

By Kenneth Rijock *
London, New York, Miami
La Nueva Cuba
March 13, 2006

If you know your history, you know that it was the Anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami who first told the United States about the presence of Soviet missiles inside Cuba . Only after repeated warnings did the US government send U-2 spy planes to conduct reconnaissance. They found intercontinental missile batteries, which precipitated the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez Frias is assisting his fellow communists in creating what will certainly be the second Cuban missile crisis. A secret agreement between Venezuela and Iran provides for the shipment of Iranian long-range missiles to Venezuela, where they will be transferred to Venezuelan-flag vessels for transport to Cuba. It is believed that Venezuelan oil tankers will be the method of shipment, thereby concealing the cargo from any prying overhead spy satellites or American aircraft. These missiles will give the Castro regime an offensive capability that, in essence, will affect the balance of power in the Caribbean, and pose a threat to the US.

This is bad enough, but factor in one obscure footnote from the original Cuban missile crisis: many intelligence sources believe that not ALL the Soviet nuclear weapons placed inside Cuba forty years ago were removed by the Russians. Provided that they have been properly stored and maintained, they could be the payload for the Iranian missiles. This gives new and dangerous meaning to the term state-sponsored terrorism. Would Castro rattle a nuclear sword at the United States ? You bet he would.

That nightmare should make all of us in the Western Hemisphere wake up in the middle of the night, but there is another alternative threat to consider. What if the hidden nuclear devices have not been properly maintained. Will there be an accidental detonation inside Cuba when Castro's military attempts to graft the bombs onto the missiles ? That would make the Chernobyl disaster seem tame, and damage Cuba for generations.

The real issue is whether the United States will take a moment from its focus on Iraq and insure that those missiles never get to Venezuela. If they are inside Venezuela, they must never be permitted to reach Cuban soil. Is it time for a hard look at another blockade of Cuba ? Other alternatives include external action against Venezuela, so Senor Chavez' tenure as President of his country could soon to come to an end.

For those who believe this article to be unsupported allegations of a person with his own agenda, be advised that the Iranian-Venezuelan-Cuban missile connection was uncovered in 2004, and reported to agencies of the US government, by established intelligence sources operating inside Venezuela. They chose not to follow up on the information. I wonder how many of the original fallout shelters built in the US still exist.