Israeli government offered
weapons
and military aid to Batista in 1958
Reinaldo Taladrid Herrero
IN 1958, to suit its image
and in search of an interfering and pro-imperial outcome that
would frustrate the real Revolution, the U.S. government
announced an arms "embargo" on the dictatorship of Fulgencio
Batista in Cuba.
And then, up stepped the
Israeli government to offer weapons and military aid to the
dictator.
This is not a personal
affirmation on my part; in fact, I am citing an individual who
is beyond all doubt in the context of the life and work of
Batista. And this fact appears clearly on Pages 247 and 248 of
the book Palabras Esperadas. Memorias de Francisco H.
Tabernilla Palmero. (Long-awaited Words. The Memoirs of
Francisco H. Tabernilla Palmero)
Francisco H. "Silito"
Tabernilla Palmero was Fulgencio Batista’s personal secretary
and assistant, as well as chief of the Alejandro Rodríguez
Infantry Division and the 10 de Marzo Tank Division.
The book, in which Silito
answers questions, was written by Gabriel E. Taborda and
published by Ediciones Universal Miami in 2009.
On the aforementioned pages
and in response to a question from Roberto A. Weill as to why,
when faced with the "U.S. embargo", Batista didn’t buy weapons
from other countries, Francisco Silito Tabernilla answered:
"I remember one time (in
1958), President Batista received a hand-delivered letter from
the Israeli defense minister that is still preserved in the
archives in my office in the Presidential Residence of the
Military City (Columbia), offering him both weapons and
technical military aid to fight the guerrilla movement. I don’t
know why he never replied to the letter or offered his thanks.
I didn’t write to the
minister, whose name I can’t remember now, it was outside of my
area of responsibility, but Batista never mentioned this offer."
In 1958, the defense minister
who signed this letter was none other than David Ben-Gurion.
At that time, Ben-Gurion was
– for the second time since the creation of the Israeli state –
prime minister and defense minister of that government, a
position that he held the second time around from February 21,
1955 until June 26, 1963.
And as I always say, draw
your own conclusions.
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