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Column 062915 Brewer

Monday, June 29, 2015


Cuba and FARC, and their
Sinister Presence in
Venezuela
By Jerry Brewer
Cuba maintains one of its largest
intelligence networks in Venezuela
(and in Mexico). The late
President Hugo Chavez of
Venezuela preferred direct access
to Cubas security service, as
indicated by cables that were
released and sent from the U.S.
Embassy in Caracas to the State
Department.
The Cuban security apparatchik
remains a key source of
Venezuelas training for its
military, and its domestic and
foreign security services, as well as
for the development and support
of people and groups with terror
agendas, and to restrain and
inhibit opposition to the
repressive leftist governments of
Venezuela and Cuba.
Many blind eyes and ears are
enraged when offered a peek
under the espionage umbrella that
reports what some believe are old
cold war diatribes designed to

punish rogue nations for anti-U.S.


sentiments.
One good example is the skillfully
exploited situation, the charade,
by Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia
(FARC) guerrillas.
The efforts to end more than 50
years of conflict in Colombia,
through the latest peace talks that
began in November of 2012, in
Cuba, clearly demonstrate the
terrorist groups desire to gain
power and political office; to be
forgiven for their atrocities; and to
not surrender their arms.
To simply summarize and give
credence to this rebel farce, Ivan
Marquez, the lead negotiator of
FARC, said that people shouldn't
hold high expectations for the
peace talks. This as Marquez must
see Colombias heightened
frustrations with the FARC, and
its empty words, shenanigans and
murderous agenda.
In March, Colombian President
Juan Manuel Santos agreed to halt
aerial bombing in recognition of a
unilateral cease-fire called by
FARC at Christmastime. However,
he subsequently ordered air
assaults to resume in response to
a rebel attack that killed ten
soldiers in April.
Since then both sides have carried
out attacks, with the FARC
renewing offensive operations and
sabotaging roads, pipelines and
utilities. Last week four soldiers
were killed in northeastern

Colombia when a helicopter


dropping off troops was destroyed
by explosives detonated remotely
by the FARC.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s,
U.S.-based social scientists held a
negative view of truces involving
violent groups and gangs,
believing that those kinds of
agreements legitimized gangs,
reinforced the authority of their
leaders, deepened cohesion
among their rank and file, and
actually reproduced rather than
reduce violence. Their
perceptions had much merit as
evidenced by MS-13 and other
gangs in Latin America.
On June 24, U.S. President Barack
Obama publicly stated for the first
time that the U.S. government
can communicate and negotiate
with hostage takers. This will
certainly add many new victims
worldwide to at least the
minimum of a vast multi-million
dollar illicit business of
kidnapping and extortion. Kidnap
and Ransom insurance (K&R) is
growing by leaps and bounds
worldwide.
To further complicate the
situation and continue the threat,
Cuba and Venezuela are joined by
Iran with a close and cooperative
relationship against the U.S., and
in support of terrorist groups and
states. Much of this cozy
relationship is facilitated though
intelligence exchanges, and Cubas
staunch and highly successful
human intelligence network.
This network skillfully and

masterfully controls Venezuelas


people via document control and
logistics to forge travel documents
and facilitate rogue agent travel
through borders. Cuba has
recently proven to remain adept at
harboring terrorists and
facilitating weapons movement in
violation of UN sanctions.
In an act of profound
bewilderment, The White House
recently announced that Cuba will
be removed from the State
Departments list of state sponsors
of terrorism. This despite its ties
to Marxist, jihadist, and other
separatist terrorist organizations,
as stated in a Breitbart News lead
last April 14.
President Obama said that Cuba
has not provided any support for
international terrorism in six
months, despite the presence of
almost every senior official of the
FARC. President Obama also
claimed that the Cuban
government had provided
assurances that it will not support
acts of international terrorism in
the future.
Regarding Venezuela, as with
Cuba, there is a curious amnesia
by President Obama and his
advisors as to the misery and
violent oppression, imprisonment,
murder and disappearances in
both nations. It certainly must not
mean that U.S. intelligence has
failed, for the international media
is constantly rife with examples.
Estimates are that around 10,000
highly violent militant grassroots
groups, called colectivos, have

received training by Cuban


security officials along Venezuelas
border with Colombia. They
define themselves as the
defenders of revolutionary
socialism," and are a real threat to
citizens that reject revolutionary
rule and government abuses.
To demonstrate the reality and
importance of this strategic and
highly tactical operational training
and development venue by Cuba,
Raul Castro has sent in highranking officers that include
generals, commanders, and
officials from Cubas Interior
Ministry.
Cuba and the rogue Venezuelan
governments facilitation with
terrorists must be stopped. Even
the U.S. DEA has shown direct
and growing criminal drug ties
between Colombia's FARC
guerrillas and Hezbollah. The
Cuban and Venezuelan
governments illicit criminal nexus
must be a top priority of astute
democratic governments
intelligence in the Western
Hemisphere.

Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal


Justice International Associates, a
global threat mitigation firm
headquartered in northern
Virginia. His website is located at
www.cjiausa.org.
TWITTER: CJIAUSA
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