Dangerous Cuba-Iran kinship
Posted on Thu, Nov. 01, 2007
By CHRIS SIMMONS
Cuban_Intelligence@yahoo.com
Scott Carmichael, a senior counterintelligence officer with the Defense
Intelligence Agency, recently confirmed continued intelligence sharing
between Iran and Cuba. Additionally, Israeli sources report that during
last year's meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana, Iranian and
Cuban intelligence officers discussed increased collaboration in
targeting the United States.
Close ties between Tehran and Havana have reportedly existed since
Iran's revolutionary leadership came to power in 1979. Given both
nations' sponsorship of terrorism, their continued collaboration
imperils U.S. national security. In the past, Havana provided training
and material to selected terrorist groups, some of which are Iranian
allies. Today, Cuba remains a safe haven for some international
terrorist groups and it allows safe transit to others. Furthermore,
Iran's Interests Section and its Mission to the United Nations appear
inadequately staffed for significant intelligence collection. This
shortfall likely makes Tehran even more dependent on Havana's continued
intelligence trafficking.
In 2006, Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz -- a career officer in Cuba's premier
foreign intelligence service, the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) --
visited with senior Iranian government officials. This meeting followed
his October 2003 meeting with President Mohammad Khatami on expanded
ties between Havana and Tehran.
At the time, Cabrisas served under cover as a minister without
portfolio. During their discussions, Khatami said reciprocal visits by
officials of the two countries would lead to further expansion and
consolidation of mutual ties. Khatami described his nation's ties with
Havana as exemplary and claimed that closer Cuba-Iran cooperation would
benefit the entire world. Cabrisas publicly focused on Havana's
willingness to broaden ties with Tehran and underlined the need to
bolster economic cooperation. The meeting called for the recurring
visits by officials, scientists and others to develop these enhanced ties.
Since at least 1996, the DI has targeted U.S. technologies beneficial to
the Cuban economy. With one of the most advanced biotechnology
industries in the emerging world, Castro successfully made biotechnology
a building block of the Cuban economy. Cuba now holds more than 400
biotechnology patents and earns considerable foreign currency through
its sales of biotechnology products to more than 50 nations. Tehran and
Havana first began collaborative work on dual-use biotechnologies in the
early 1990s.
Acting on behalf of Tehran, in July 2003, Cuban intelligence jammed the
transmissions of the National Iranian Television (NITV), the Voice of
America and three other Iran-bound broadcasts. The extended jamming
coincided with Tehran's crackdown on the dissident commemoration of the
historic 1999 student uprising.
Loral Skynet, owners of the targeted satellite, quickly traced the
source of the jamming to a spot several miles outside of Havana. The
location identified was the Cuban military intelligence's Bejucal
Signals Intelligence site, which intercepts and jams radio and
television signals with equal ease. NITV first broadcast from its Los
Angeles-based station in March 2000. However, Iran promptly jammed the
Hot Bird 5 satellite in its static orbit over France.
NITV and other broadcasters then moved to Telstar 12, because its
stationary orbit over the mid-Atlantic placed it outside the range of
Iran's jamming stations. However, the move placed NITV within range of
Cuba, the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that jams foreign
broadcasts. Worldwide, only seven nations engage in such illegal jamming.
Havana had demonstrated Tehran's importance in May 2001 when Fidel
Castro visited Iran. Cuba's ambassador to Tehran, career DI officer
Darío Urra Torriente, coordinated and oversaw all aspects of Castro's
meetings with Iran's leaders. If history is any example, the focus of
the conference was economic and political issues, as well as
intelligence collaboration. Urra's experience in the Arab world dates
back to the early 1960s, when he served in Algiers. During that tour, he
assisted in Algeria's covert shipments of weaponry to Venezuelan
revolutionaries.
Chris Simmons, a career counterintelligence officer, is an expert on
Cuban intelligence.
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