(The Wall Street Journal and others have recently begun a campaign attacking John Kerry and others for supposedly leaking to the public the name of a top secret analyst of intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency, a man named Fulton Armstrong. These allegations have been made this week, April 2005, though among the rightist exiles, these claims have been circulating for some time. Armstrong is a CIA official who has rejected the notion that Cuba is a military threat to the United States.

(Here, however, is proof that the revelation that Fulton Armstrong was not just a CIA analysis, but the CIA's top figure responsible for Latin America, was begun more than TWO YEARS AGO, as readers can see from this article which appeared in January 2003 in the EL NUEVO HERALD, which is the sister publication of the MIAMI HERALD. We are grateful to the Cuba-L list-serv for drawing this to our attention.

(A CubaNews translation by Ana Portela.)
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EL NUEVO HERALD
January 15, 2003
PRESIDENT BUSH AND THE CUBAN TRANSITION
By: Ernesto F. Betancourt.

The Bush administration maintains a schizophrenic position about a transition in Cuba. The President has been very clear that he wants to speed up the process of transition giving help to strengthen the dissidence.

His clear and decided commitment to the freedom of the Cuban people has prevented, more than once, an undermining of this commitment. This is due to the fact that within the government bureaucracy there are remnants of the Clinton administration, both in personalities as in policies who do not share this presidential position. Even within the Republican Party there are those who respond to the farmers and the Blacks who do not share the presidential commitment.

One who opposes this presidential policy is Fulton Armstrong, currently the main official of the CIA for Latin America who has worked in Clinton's White House. According to an article in the New York Times of January 5, 2003, Armstrong is under attack of the administration by officials who follow the Bush line, due to personal ties and positions with Ana Belén Montes, the Castro spy in the DIA who worked during the Clinton government. George Tenet, the CIA director designated by Clinton supports Armstrong.

In addition to Armstrong and the CIA there are elements within the Pentagon and the Justice Department who favor the policies promoted by Montes. The retired generals Wilhem, Sheehan, Asketon and McCaffrey as well as within the Navy War Collage, the Army War Collage and the National Defense University who consider preferable for the United Status a succession led by Raul than a true democratic transition as favored by President Bush.

The argument is based on the point of view of national security. The three main points are: i) prevent a massive migration; ii) prevent the participation in a civil war in Cuba; and iii) obtain effective cooperation to intercept drug trafficking.

Understandably, these Pentagon objectives totally ignore the desires for freedom, democracy and a market economy for the Cuban people. This formula is as anti-history as the Bay of Pigs and is equally condemned to failure.

In spite of the arguments put forth by the NYT reporter, no one knows to what point this position by Montes were her own ideas or planted by her controls within Cuban intelligence. This will only be known if the results of the evaluation of the impact of the Cuban agent infiltrated by Castro are made public. Did her position have anything to do with these policies? But, as Montes fooled all the generals and CIA and DIA analysts involved in her case there is a concerted effort to prevent the revelation, not only by her confessions but about the evaluation of the impact on American policy regarding Cuba under Clinton.

Consequently, after sentencing her to 25 years in jail in October of 2002, the Justice department has prevented any contact with her nor have they released details of the threat to United States security that her treason has caused.

This has special importance in the case of the controversial biological weapons.

Montes and her friend Armstrong, have been among the top echelons who deny that Cuba has developed a virus like the Western Nile that caused the deaths of 200 persons las year in the United States; and much less that they are involved in spreading it using migratory birds as vectors. However, persons close to Raul Castro have confirmed to me that plans were in force by Fidel to do just that. Later, there was confirmation by scientists involved in this work that has been ignored or discredited by those who failed to detect it or to act on it, at the time. Not naming names, those with their stupid political arrogance that prevails among some scientists, contributed to this threatening Castroist effort.

If President Bush, in his second term in office, wants to push forward his praiseworthy plans to speed up the transition for a free and democratic Cuba and not to an inherited tyranny based on the undertakings dominated by the nomenklatura of Raul Castro he will have to put an end to the schizophrenia that has prevailed in his administration, until now, referring to Cuba. The tree has to be shaken to let the ripe and rotten fruit fall. There must be an end to the complicity of his collaborators on the silence Castro maintains regarding Montes.
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EL NUEVO HERALD
15 de enero 2003
PRESIDENTE BUSH Y LA TRANSICION CUBANA
Por Ernesto F. Betancourt.

La administración del presidente Bush mantiene una posición esquizofrénica sobre la transición en Cuba. El Presidente ha hecho muy claro que desea acelerar el proceso de transición dando ayuda para fortalecer la disidencia. Su claro y decidido compromiso con la libertad para el pueblo de Cuba ha evitado en más de una ocasión que se socave ese compromiso. Esto se debe a que dentro de la burocracia gubernamental hay remanentes de la administración de Clinton, tanto en personalidades como en políticas, que no comparten esa posición presidencial. Aun dentro del Partido Republicano, hay elementos que responden a los granjeros y los negocios que no comparten ese compromiso presidencial.

Uno de los que objeta esa política presidencial es Fulton Armstrong, actualmente oficial principal de la CIA para América Latina, quien trabajó en la Casa Blanca de Clinton. De acuerdo con un artículo en el New York Times del 5 de enero de 2003, Armstrong está bajo ataque dentro de la administración por funcionarios que siguen la línea de Bush, debido a sus vínculos personales y de posición con Ana Belén Montes, la espía de Castro en la DIA, con quien coincidía en la época de Clinton. George Tenet, director de la CIA designado por Clinton, respalda a Armstrong.

Además de Armstrong y la CIA, hay elementos dentro del Pentágono y en el Departamento de Justicia que favorecen las políticas que promoviera la Montes. Los generales retirados Wilhem, Sheehan, Asketon y McCaffrey, así como elementos dentro del Naval War College, el Army War College y la National Defense University siguen aferrados a la posición propuesta por la Montes de que es preferible para Estados Unidos una sucesión encabezada por Raúl que una verdadera transición democrática como la que propugna el presidente Bush.

Ese argumento se basa en que, desde el punto de vista de la seguridad nacional, los tres objetivos principales son: i) evitar una migración masiva; ii) evitar tener que intervenir en una guerra civil en Cuba; y iii) obtener cooperación efectiva para interceptar el tráfico de drogas. Como puede apreciarse, este esquema de objetivos del Pentágono ignora totalmente las aspiraciones de libertad, democracia y una economía de mercado para el pueblo cubano. Esta fórmula es tan antihistórica como Bahía de Cochinos y está igualmente condenada al fracaso.

A pesar de lo que argumenta el reportero del NYT, nadie sabe hasta qué punto esa posición de la Montes era de origen propio o sembrada por sus controles dentro de la inteligencia cubana. Eso sólo se sabría si se hicieran públicos los resultados de la evaluación del impacto que esta agente infiltrada de Castro tuvo en la formulación de esas políticas. Pero, como la Montes les tomó el pelo a todos los generales y analistas de la CIA y la DIA envueltos en su caso, hay una confabulación para impedir que se revelen tanto sus confesiones como la evaluación de su impacto en la formulación de la política americana respecto a Cuba bajo Clinton. De ahí que, después de su sentencia a 25 años de cárcel en octubre de 2002, Justicia no haya permitido contacto alguno con ella, ni se hayan divulgado detalles de la amenaza a la seguridad de Estados Unidos que ha ocasionado su traición.

Esto es de especial importancia en el caso de las controvertidas armas biológicas.

La Montes, y su amigo Armstrong, han estado a la cabeza de los que niegan que Cuba haya desarrollado virus como el del Nilo Occidental, que causó mas de doscientas muertes el año pasado a través de todo Estados Unidos; y, mucho menos, que haya estado envuelta en su difusión, usando como vector aves migratorias. Sin embargo, a mí personalmente me han afirmado personas con acceso directo a Raúl Castro que, a principios de los ochenta, éste hizo un comentario que indica ya estaban en camino los planes de Fidel para hacer precisamente eso. Posteriormente, ha habido evidencia confirmatoria de científicos envueltos en esas tareas, toda la cual ha sido desechada o desacreditada por aquéllos que fallaron en detectarla, o en actuar al respecto, en su momento. Para no hablar de quienes, con la estúpida arrogancia política que prevalece entre algunos científicos, contribuyeron a este amenazante esfuerzo castrista.

Si el presidente Bush, en la segunda etapa de su administración, desea llevar a cabo sus encomiables planes de acelerar la transición a una Cuba libre y demócratica y no a una tiranía hereditaria basada en empresas dominadas por la nomen-klatura de Raúl Castro, tendrá que poner fin a la esquizofrenia que ha prevalecido en su administración hasta ahora en cuanto a Cuba. Hay que sacudir la mata para que caigan las frutas maduras y algunas podridas. Hay que poner fin a la complicidad de sus colaboradores en el silencio que mantiene Castro sobre la Montes.