The Washington Times; November 15, 2001

Terrorists' private banker

 by Lincoln Diaz-Balart.

 There is a new reality in the world. Even some states  that until very recently were clear enemies of the  United States have now agreed to cooperate in the  global war on international terrorism. But the Cuban  dictatorship has made another choice: It continues to  provide safe harbor for terrorists and insists upon  serving as the world's primary money-launderer for  international terrorism. Fidel Castro doesn't just  provide his "revolutionary" banks for Puerto Rican  FALN terrorists like those who took their stolen  millions from the United States to Cuba. Laundering  money for drug-dealers, terrorists and corrupt  politicians has become Mr. Castro's most profitable  businesses.

 While some continue to deny Mr. Castro's connections  to international terrorism, let us briefly review some  public facts. In May, the Cuban dictator visited  Syria, Iran and Libya. In Iran, Mr. Castro declared  that "together Iran and Cuba will bring the United  States to its knees." Later, in July, Mr. Castro  marked the anniversary of his political movement by  hosting the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme  leader and leading hard-liner. On Aug. 29, an  anonymous letter to Radio Cayman alleged that three  Afghan nationals who had recently arrived in Grand  Cayman from Cuba were "agents of Osama bin Laden . . .  and are organizing a major terrorist attack against  the U.S. via airlines." The letter was ignored until  the September 11 attacks. The three Afghan nationals,  who according to UPI had $2 million in cash in their  possession, were then detained by Cayman authorities.

 Three suspected IRA terrorists were arrested on Aug.  11 in Bogota by Colombian police. The terrorists were apparently providing specialized bomb-making expertise  to the Colombian FARC. According to the BBC and the  Irish Times, one of the three arrested, Nial Connolly,  has been the official IRA representative in Cuba since  1996, was training at several Cuban terrorist camps,  and was paid by Mr. Castro. Castro agents were  middlemen between the IRA and the Colombian FARC  which, according to the State Department, has "a  permanent presence" in Cuba.

 The Castro dictatorship also maintains what it calls  "fraternal, sustained and increasingly deep" ties with  the Basque ETA terrorist organization. Mr. Castro even  refused to sign an international declaration issued by  the November 2000 Ibero-American Summit condemning ETA  terrorism. The only case of direct state terrorism  against Americans in recent history occurred on Feb. 24, 1996, when Mr. Castro ordered the shooting down by  his air force and assumed personal responsibility for  the murder of three unarmed American citizens and  another U.S. resident over the Florida Straits.

 There is a litany of evidence incriminating Mr.
 Castro. More than 90 U.S. felony fugitives wanted by  the FBI for hijacking, murder, armed bank robbery, the  sale of explosives to Libya and kidnaping, remain in  Cuba. An Office of Technology Assessment report  entitled "Technologies Underlying Weapons of Mass  Destruction" identified Cuba as one of 17 states  possessing bioweapons. In 1998, 10 Cuban spies in  South Florida who were trying to penetrate U.S.  military installations were arrested and subsequently  convicted, including one of them for conspiracy to  murder U.S. citizens. In 1999, Dr. Ken Alibek, a  former Soviet army colonel and deputy chief of Soviet  bioweapons development, declared that the Castro  regime "has produced biological weapons since 1991."

 In February 2000, the FBI arrested a high-ranking U.S.  Immigration and Naturalization Service officer in  Miami for conspiracy to spy for the Castro regime. On  March 4, 2000, the Associated Press reported that  Cubans were present at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.  In October 2000, Carlos Lage, a senior official of the  Castro dictatorship, traveled to Iran to inaugurate a  biotechnical research and development facility. In  February 2001 before the Senate Intelligence  Committee, Adm. Tom Wilson, director of the Defense  Intelligence Agency, confirmed that "Cuban armed  forces can initiate an information warfare or computer  network attack" that could "disrupt our military" and  that "their ability to use asymmetric tactics against  our military is significant."

 In August 2001, two Cuban spies in Orlando, Florida  were arrested. According to the FBI, one Cuban spy who  worked for the U.S. Postal Service at Miami  International Airport sent two detailed reports to  Havana in 1998 about the U.S. postal system (one is  entitled to ask in this era of lethal letters why Mr.  Castro wanted to know all about the functioning of the  U.S. postal system). On Sept. 21, a senior analyst at  the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested for  spying for the Cuban regime. The FBI was forced to  arrest her before concluding its investigation  because, according to intelligence community sources,  Mr. Castro is known to share intelligence with Middle  Eastern enemies of the United States.

 While some other "terrorist list states" have begun to  provide intelligence to the United States, the Cuban  dictatorship remains closely linked to and serves as  the private-international banker for multiple  terrorist organizations. As various lists of  cooperating countries in the fight against money  laundering become publicly known, the role of  international terrorism's banker will become  increasingly harder to hide.

 Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart is a Republican from Florida.