Guillermo Hernández Cartaya Options

[John Simkin]

Has anyone got anything on Guillermo Hernández Cartaya?

I know he was born in Cuba in 1932. He became a banker who supported the government of Fulgencio Batista. An opponent of Fidel Castro he fled to the United States and took part in the Bay of Pigs operation in 1961. He remained in prison for three years and according to one source the CIA paid $50,000 to get him out of Cuba.

In 1971 Cartaya established the World Finance Corporation. In 1976 a group of anti-Castro Cubans that included Frank Castro, Luis Posada, Orlando Bosch, Armando Lopez Estrada and Guillermo Novo helped to establish Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU). CORU was partly financed by Cartaya.

One Miami police veteran told the authors of Assassination on Embassy Row (1980): "The Cubans held the CORU meeting at the request of the CIA. The Cuban groups... were running amok in the mid-1970s, and the United States had lost control of them. So the United States backed the meeting to get them all going in the same direction again, under United States control." It has been pointed out that George H. W. Bush was director of the CIA when this meeting took place.

Frank Castro told the Miami Herald why he had helped establish CORU: "I believe that the United States has betrayed freedom fighters around the world. They trained us to fight, brainwashed us how to fight and now they put Cuban exiles in jail for what they had been taught to do in the early years."

In October, 1976, Cubana Flight 455 exploded in midair, killing all 73 people aboard. This included all 24 young athletes on Cuba's gold-medal fencing team. Police in Trinidad arrested two Venezuelans, Herman Ricardo and Freddy Lugo. Ricardo worked for Posada's security agency in Venezuela and admitted that he and Lugo had planted two bombs on the plane. Ricardo claimed the bombing had been organized by Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch. When Posada was arrested he was found with a map of Washington showing the daily route of to work of Orlando Letelier, the former Chilean Foreign Minister, who had been assassinated on 21st September, 1976. Ricardo Morales Navarrete later admitted that he was part of this bomb plot.

CORU took credit for fifty bombings in Miami, New York, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and Argentina in the first ten months after it was established. In a CBS interview on 10th June, 1977, Armando Lopez Estrada, a member of CORU, claimed: "We use the tactics that we learned from the CIA... We were trained to set off a bomb, we were trained to kill."

In 1977 the World Finance Corporation collapsed. He was later charged with money laundering, drugs & arms trafficking and embezzlement. The federal prosecutor told Pete Brewton that he had been approached by a CIA officer who explained that "Cartaya had done a bunch of things that the government was indebted to him for, and he asked me to drop the charges against him." As a result Cartaya was only convicted of tax evasion. After serving one year in prison, Cartya was released on 6th June, 1987.

[John Simkin]

You can find what I have on Guillermo Hernández Cartaya here:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcartaya.htm

Here are a couple of interesting passages on Cartaya:

(1) Pete Brewton, The Mafia, CIA and George Bush (1992)

Before the so-called "deregulation" of the savings and loan industry was even a gleam in Ronald Reagan's eye, there was another savings and loan in Texas besides Surety that was giving regulators and prosecutors problems in the late 1970s. This institution was Jefferson Savings and Loan in McAllen, way down south in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, the land of political machines, political bosses, political patronage and the patron.

Jefferson S&L was chartered in 1956 with six directors, including future U.S. senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., his brother, Donald, and his father, Lloyd M. Bentsen Sr., el patron. Another director was Vannie Cook, who would one day be a business partner of reputed mob associate and Surety S&L looter Raymond Novelli. Lloyd Jr. stepped down as a director the next year, but continued as a large stockholder with 15.5 percent of the shares. Donald also held 15.5 percent of the shares, while Lloyd Sr. was the biggest shareholder, with 18 percent of the stock.

By 1974, two new names had appeared on Jefferson's board of directors. They were Guillermo Hernandez-Cartaya and his father, Marcelo Hernandez. Hernandez-Cartaya is a Cuban exile who fought in the abortive CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, was captured and then was ransomed by the U.S. government. He went to work for Citizens & Southern Bank in Atlanta and then in 1970 formed World Finance Corporation in Miami.

By 1977, Hernandez-Cartaya and World Finance were the focus of intense and extensive state and federal investigations into drug smuggling, money laundering, gun running, political corruption and terrorist activities. But the case fizzled out in 1978 and only resulted in one income-tax indictment of Hernandez-Cartaya, in 1981. The CIA was partly, if not totally, responsible for pulling the plug on the investigation.

At least 12 World Finance employees had past associations with the CIA. When Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Jerome Sanford, who resigned in frustration and disgust over the failed investigation, tried to obtain from the FBI its CIA files on World Finance, he was denied access on the grounds of national security. But the CIA did acknowledge that it had 24 documents relating to World Finance that were generated in 1976 and 1977.

One of the six founding directors and stockholders of World Finance, along with Hernandez-Cartaya, was Washington lawyer Walter Sterling Surrey, described by journalist John Cummings as "a charter member of the old boy network of U.S. intelligence." Surrey had served in the OSS (the CIA's predecessor) in World War II, and after the war went to work for the State Department as head of the Division of Economic Security Controls. He resigned his position with World Finance in 1976 and has denied any knowledge of intelligence or illegal activities at the company.

(2) Peter Dale Scott & Jonathan Marshall, Cocaine Politics (1991)

Frank Castro and Ricardo Morales were linked by terrorism as well as drugs; their violent records stretched back into the 1960s. But their anticommunist efforts reached a climax in 1976, when Frank Castro joined several other Cuban exile leaders in founding CORU, an umbrella organization for terrorism against Cuban installations and against the persons and property of countries deemed overly sympathetic to Fidel Castro's regime. Morales gave sanctuary to some CORU agents in Venezuela, where he had become a high-ranking officer in the intelligence service, DISIP.

"The story of CORU is true," one of its leading organizers told an interviewer in 1977. "There was a meeting in the Bonao mountains [of the Dominican Republic] of 20 men representing all different activist organizations. It was a meeting of all the military and political directors with revolutionary implications. It was a great meeting. Everything was planned there. I told them that we couldn't just keep bombing an embassy here and a police station there. We had to start taking more serious actions ." The organization took credit for the October 1976 explosion of a Cuban passenger jet and fifty other bombings in Miami, New York, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, and Argentina in the first ten months of its existence. In a CBS News interview, one member explained, "We use the tactics that we learned from the CIA because we-we were trained to do everything. We are trained to set off a bomb, we were trained to kill ... we were trained to do everything." Five of CORU's founders, including Frank Castro, later joined the Contras.

Financing for CORU operations allegedly came from WFC, a Florida based financial conglomerate and drug-trafficking front closely associated with the Restoy-Escandar-Trafficante organization exposed in Operation Eagle. An unpublished congressional staff study of the company found that it encompassed "a large body of criminal activity, including aspects of political corruption, gun running, as well as narcotics trafficking on an international level." The WFC empire was led by CIA-trained Bay of Pigs veteran Guillermo Hernandez Cartaya, whom federal authorities suspected of working with the Contra backer and former CIA officer Gustavo Villoldo. The head of the Dade County investigation of WFC later said he found that one company subsidiary was "nothing but a CIA front."

[John Simkin]

Robert Parry, Lost History (1999)

One of those exiles - who would play a part in Molina's life story - was Guillermo Hernandez Cartaya. Along with hundreds of other Cubans, Cartaya traveled to Central America for training in Brigade 2506, the core assault force for the invasion.

On April 14, 1961, under CIA direction, the 1,400-man brigade landed at the Bay of Pigs. Quickly, however, the Cuban army pinned down the invaders and captured 1,189 of them, including Cartaya. Months later, the U.S. government ransomed Cartaya and the others with $53 million in medicine, tractors and other equipment.

But the Bay of Pigs soldiers did not simply fade away. Many stayed with the CIA and carried the anti-communist crusade to far flung corners of the globe. Some fought with special counterinsurgency teams in Vietnam. Others signed up with intelligence agencies throughout South America.

By the 1970s, Cartaya was hitting it big in politics and banking, too. According to Jonathan Kwitny's Endless Enemies, Cartaya parlayed his anti-Castro credentials into powerful relationships, even joining Nelson Rockefeller on hunting and fishing trips. Then, in the mid-1970s, Cartaya launched his most ambitious endeavor, an international financial holding company called the World Finance Corp., later renamed WFC Corp. The firm's maze of banks reached to the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, London, the Caribbean, Miami, Colombia and Panama.

To head the crucial Panama bank, known as UniBank, Cartaya recruited another Cuban exile whom Cartaya had met during travels to Atlanta. That Cuban exile was John Molina. Taking up Cartaya on his job offer, Molina moved to Panama City to run UniBank. With Molina at the helm, UniBank began steering Cartaya's money from all over the world into untraceable accounts. Molina also oversaw Cartaya's extensive financial dealings in Colombia and other South American countries. Millions of dollars were going in and out of major Colombian agricultural projects.

But Cartaya's banking empire encountered troubles in South Florida. Responding to a routine call, Dade County police found large quantities of marijuana residue in a Miami dumpster. Along with the marijuana residue, police discovered business records of corporations connected to WFC. As the investigation developed, authorities uncovered other corporate links between WFC and Aerocondor, a South American airline that had been caught smuggling drugs. Police also discovered that WFC agents had contacts with the Mafia drug syndicate of Santo Trafficante, Jr., whose lucrative narcotics operations had dominated Cuba prior to Castro's revolution.

Other leads went off in surprising directions. The anti-Castro Cartaya, it seemed, had worked with a suspected Cuban government spy. Even more perplexing, WFC had received a$2 million loan from the Narodny Bank, a KGB-connected Soviet financial institution that was responsible for scrounging up hard currency for Moscow. Police came to suspect that WFC was an intelligence front. Federal investigators found that about a dozen WFC officials had past associations with the CIA.

"It was drugs, it was money laundering, it was everything," South Florida detective James Rider told me. "I know the CIA was in there somewhere."

The investigators also came to know the name of John Molina. He was not regarded as a powerful player though. He was just one of Cartaya's financial lieutenants carrying out orders. But the authorities recognized that UniBank was an important cog in Cartaya's money-laundering machine.

I wonder if this is the same Molina that appeared in this CIA document.

CIA, Secret Intelligence Report, Activities of Cuban Exile Leader Orlando Bosch During his Stay in Venezuela (14th October, 1976)

TO: Lt. M. BROMLEY, Supervisor

FROM: Detective A. TARABOCHIA

DATE: January 11, 1962

SUBJECT: Assist other Agency - Alleged plot to assassinate the President of the United States

At approximately 6:30 P.M., January 10, 1962, Detective A. L. TARABOCHIA was contacted at his residence by Secret Service Agent ERNEST ARAGON in reference to alleged plot to assassinate the President of the United States.

Agent ARAGON revealed that, according to the information received by his agency, RAFAEL ANSELMO RODRIGUEZ MOLINS, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Dominican ancestry, was en route to Miami from Chicago to attempt to assassinate President KENNEDY next time he arrives in West Palm Beach. The subject also known as RAFAEL MOLINA is a W/M, RODRIGUEZ is known to disguise himself as a priest and carries a weapon concealed in a camera case. Since the subject has a badly infected foot, there is a possibility that he walks with a limp. Agent ARAGON added that the subject was to contact a Cuban male living in the Miami area before proceeding to West Palm Beach. The Cuban, ARMANDO PABLO LOPEZ ESTRADA QUINTANA, was a member of the forces that attempted the invasion of Cuba on April 17, 1961. LOPEZ is a W/M, DOB 3/15/39, 6ft, 200 lbs., last known address New York City, NY. LOPEZ is married and his wife's name is MERCEDES LOPEZ.

On January 11, 1962, the writer contacted a number of Cubans in position to furnish information concerning the suspects. As soon as this information is obtained it will be forwarded in a report to follow.
The investigation is continuing.

[Robert Charles-D...]

On a related note, the following comes from:

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/09/tal...and-spooks.html

A tale of drugs and spooks

I had intended to annoy you with more AA77 skepticism today, but a reader has directed my attention toward a more pressing mystery -- the story of a man who didn't board a jet.

John "Sparky" McLaughlin tried to take his family on vacation last July, only to discover that that an unknown agency had placed him on the terrorist "no-fly" list. This came as quite a surprise to McLaughlin: He's a cop. In fact, he once headed an effective anti-narcotics unit in Philadelphia.

Too effective. His 90s-era investigations of a drug ring run by citizens of the Dominican Republic brought him into conflict with no less a body than the CIA. His work was disparaged, smeared, and shut down. He fought for years to counter the allegations, eventually winning his day in court, along with a $1.5 million dollar judgment (now on appeal). Although his name was cleared, its appearance on a "no-fly" list suggests that "anti-terrorist" measures are being used to persecute a whistleblower.

All the evidence indicates that McLaughlin is a good cop who has made some powerful enemies. To get the full story, check out the lengthy investigations by the Philadelphia City Paper, here and here, as well as the terrific follow-up piece by Bill Conroy over at NarcoNews. I suggest printing out every page and savoring the details over lunch. You won't find a more fascinating or frustrating true crime tale.

The gist:

A decade ago, McLaughlin and three other agents of the Philadelphia Bureau of Narcotics Investigations and Drug Control (BNI) had targeted a coke and heroin ring run out of the Dominican Republic -- a ring which used a fleet of tricked-out Oldsmobile to run "supplies" into Philadelphia, Boston and New York. The four agents -- later dubbed "the Bastard Squad" -- arrested a crack dealer whose brother was the chief stateside fund-raiser for to Revolutionary Dominican Party (PRD), then poised to gain power in the home country. Connections to this party turned up with unnerving regularity.

An informant revealed that the PRD hoped to use drug money to fund the campaign of PRD presidential candidate Jose Pena Gomez. The party intended to buy votes -- literally purchase them outright -- from members of the massive expatriate community living in the United States. This scenario was confirmed when a "wired" informant met with PRD officials.

The Bastard Squad ran this data by their intelligence advisor, a former CIA man named Wilson Prichett. Although some might want to place quotation markes around the word "former," Prichett seems to have acted in good faith. (The writers of the original City Paper article received remarkable access to CIA agent names and confidential memos.)

Prichett fed the Squad's findings to CIA, who passed the data to station chief in Santo Domingo. In the Dominican Republic, rumors connecting Pena Gomez to the drug trade played a quiet role in the election. Even so, the Agency clearly favored Jose Pena Gomez in the upcoming elections.

(As an intelligence-gathering agency, CIA is not supposed to favor anyone -- in theory. Actual practice is another story, as any good CIA history will confirm.)

The CIA made a suspiously vigorous effort to discover the identities of the Squad's informants. McLaughlin infuriated the powers-that-be when he refused to dilvulge the information.

The Drug Enforcement Agency, acting in conjunction with McLaughlin's crew, planned to move against Pena Gomez during a fundraising trip the United States. But the DEA changed its mind at the last minute, allowing the candidate to go home with $500,000 in drug profits. (Eventually, he lost a close election, and died not long thereafter.)

That's when the bomb dropped on the Bastard Squad.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that they would no longer accept any cases originating from McLaghlin and his associates.

Soon therafter, State District Attorney Tom Corbett made the same announcement.

These decisions effectively shut down the unit. All of their ongoing investigations had to cease. Perpetrators walked -- even some who had pled guilty.

Rumor linked the "Bastard Squad" to various corrupt practices, such as fabricating evidence and conducting searches without probable cause. One of Corbett's top men investigated these rumors and found them baseless; Corbett squelched the exonerative report and continued to treat McLaughlin as a pariah.

The squad members became convinced that their problems stemmed from their refusal to expose the brave informants who had fingered the PRD in the heroin and coke trade.

The pariah treatment was unprecedented. When undercover cops are suspected of going bad, the usual practice is to keep them under surveillance in order to catch them red-handed.

Members of the squad went to court to clear their names. From a 2003 AP account:

The agents filed a civil rights lawsuit in 1997, saying they had "become the targets of vicious unfounded attacks on their credibility and careers by the federal government," with the "marionetted support" of the Philadelphia DA's office and [the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office].

The lawsuit also claimed that Pena Gomez's Dominican Revolutionary Party "was, and is, protected and sanctioned, unlawfully, by agencies of the United States government, to include the CIA and the State Department, enabling the Dominicans to distribute illegal drugs at will to the black and Hispanic populations of the Eastern Seaboard."

The 1997 lawsuit was dismissed, but a subsequent suit resulted in a $1.5 million judgment in favor of McLaughlin and his men.

I should mention here that the PRD is considered moderately left-of-center. (So was Mexico's PRI, despite its long and close association with the American power establishment.) The party's color is white, which cynics might interpret as a fitting tribute to the product flooding American streets.

The questions that comes to my mind are these: Is McLaughlin correct in his claim that a faction at CIA protected the Dominican drug trade? If so, who was in that faction?

No outsider can answer that question with any authority. But perhaps we can gather a few hints if we attempt to trace some of the relevant history -- beginning with CIA head Porter Goss:
Rep. Porter J. Goss has disclosed precious few details of his CIA employment from roughly 1960 to 1971,” reported a profile in the Associated Press. Reuters called him a “mystery man,” and said he had been “close-mouthed about his past.”

“He worked in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Mexico -- tumultuous countries during that decade of the Cold War,” Reuters reported.

During a 2002 interview with The Washington Post, Goss joked that he performed photo interpretation and "small-boat handling," which led to "some very interesting moments in the Florida Straits."
One should never forget Goss' mysterious promotion of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who had a background in that part of the world. Foggo was, in turn, a long-time friend to the notorious Brent Wilkes, the prime mover in the Cunningham corruption scandal.

In a previous piece on Wilkes, I presented evidence suggesting that he has long had a relationship with the CIA. Wilkes had worked for the World Finance Corporation, a predecessor to BCCI. WFC, founded by anti-Castro Cuban Guillermo Hernandez-Cartaya, was, in the 1960s and 70s, the financial institution most favored by narcotics traffickers with CIA connections.

I hope the reader will forgive a lapse into self-quotation:

If, as I suspect, Wilkes joined forces with WFC in the mid-1970s, he may have played a role in the creation of a spin-off called the Dominican Mortgage Corporation, which shared the same address as WFC's Coral Gables HQ. This group heavily invested in Vegas -- casinos, real estate development, even a detective agency.

The "Dominican" part of the name now seems particularly resonant.

But why would the CIA take such a special interest in the PRD? The choice seems particularly bizarre when we recall that, back in the 1960s, the Johnson administration had damned PRD founder Juan Bosch as pro-communist -- even though Bosch had, in fact, banned communist movements in his nation.

In the 1980s, PRD leader Salvador Jorge Blanco proved to be spectacularly corrupt. Yet in this same period, the party seems to have forged strong links to American intelligence.

Another PRD leader, Hipólito Mejía, ran the Dominican Republic from 2000 to 2004. During his tenure, poverty increased and the massive Bainiter banking scandal (which tarred more than one party) was exposed.

Quirino Paulino, a former army captain in the Dominican Republic, has been accused of running much of the cocaine traffic between that nation and the United States. Paulino has made large contributions to all the major political parties in his country.

Note: "sparky178" -- presumably John McLaughlin -- has answered questions about his case in a dialogue preserved here.

[John Simkin]

It seems that whistleblowers are now called “terrorists” where in the past they were described as “communists”.