Vol. 77/No. 29      AUGUST 12, 2013

Reprinted here is part of an interview with René González, one of the Cuban Five, that was published in the June 15 issue of Escambray, a weekly newspaper in Sancti Spíritus province in central Cuba.

In the last issue, the Militant ran another section of the interview, centered on González’s experiences in U.S. prisons and his relations with fellow workers behind bars. Here he talks about his mission as a Cuban state security agent along with Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and Gerardo Hernández. The five revolutionaries were gathering information on activities and plans for violent attacks and provocations by U.S.-based Cuban-American organizations bent on overthrowing the socialist revolution in Cuba and restoring capitalist rule there in alliance with Washington.

González’s mission began Dec. 8, 1990, when he “stole” a Cuban crop-dusting plane from the San Nicolás de Bari air base near Havana and flew to the U.S. naval base in Boca Chica Key, Fla., where he was greeted as a hero by opponents of the Cuban Revolution and welcomed into the circles of rightist paramilitary groups, including Brothers to the Rescue, Democracy Movement, National Democratic Unity Party and the Cuban American National Foundation.

A campaign for release of the Five is being waged internationally. Today all but René González remain in prison, with sentences ranging from 17 years and nine months to a double life term plus 15 years. In May, having served 13 years in prison and half of a three-year term of “supervised release,” González won his fight to return to Cuba, where he was reunited with his wife Olga and their daughters, Irmita and Ivette.

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Before leaving, you left Olga some money and the lyrics of a song by Pablo Milanés inside a magazine. Was it a coded message?

“It’s difficult to leave when your family has no idea what you’re doing,” González said. “One of the hardest things on such a mission is convincing people you respect that you are a traitor. In all these years, the most difficult tasks I carried out were in Cuba, both times in San Nicolás de Bari: ending the process of becoming a member of the Cuban Communist Party and stealing an airplane. There are things that are not just tasks but are something very hard for a human being. Leaving your family behind is one of them; it’s rough. I left Olga money I had saved along with that song — I don’t even remember which one — inside a copy of Bohemia magazine.

I told Irmita a secret — she was six years old but very discreet and her lips were sealed. “I’m going to leave a little gift here for your mom for when I come back at the end of the year. This is a secret to surprise your mom,” I said.

“Mommy, mommy, daddy left this here!” — that’s how Olguita found it.

How many times did you review the plan to commandeer the aircraft that took you to Boca Chica, where you arrived with the fuel tank almost empty?

None. In the circumstances in which everything happened, it was impossible to review anything. We were entering the Special Period, so parachuting and air sports in general were among the first activities to be cut back. It all ended up being improvised, except for my decision that if the opportunity presented itself, I was going to go. I had to find the most opportune moment and make the most of it, that’s how I arrived on an empty tank. The opportunity appeared and I did a quick calculation. I said to myself, “The fuel will be just enough — I have to take the plunge.” It was probably the riskiest, most dangerous flight of my life.”

On arriving in Miami you made a statement on the so-called Radio Martí saying that you felt like a veritable Christopher Columbus when you saw the Florida Keys. How did you manage to take on the persona of a traitor and make yourself credible before public opinion?

I asked myself that question from the moment they proposed the mission. I don’t think anyone can train for that. Besides, I was the complete opposite. I’ve never been a good actor. You can’t find someone who is a revolutionary and a faker. What’s the key? The sense of duty, the satisfaction of deceiving someone who wants to inflict harm on my people. Beyond that, maybe some personal traits make it possible for you to pull it off.

I remember when I first met Félix Rodríguez, “El Gato” [“The Cat,” the CIA agent involved in the 1967 murder of Ernesto Che Guevara in Bolivia]. It was the same day Brothers to the Rescue was created. The night before, I had been at the home of a pilot who had hijacked a plane in the 1960s and was the head of a group known as CUPA, Cuban Pilots Association. While I was with him [Brothers chief José] Basulto called to let him know. “Listen, we’re going to set up a group that will be called Brothers to the Rescue, and we’ll announce it at a press conference at the Miami airport.” And the guy invited me.

I go there, and when I walk into the conference room they say, “Oh, look, the one who hijacked the plane.” All of a sudden they tell me, “Look, we want to introduce you to Félix Rodríguez, the man who killed Che.” I don’t know what happened to me — it was an electric shock. I shook hands with him and said, “You don’t say, compadre, so you’re the man.” I thought to myself, amazed: how could I have done that? When I left I told myself: now I know I can carry out this task.

Some people might think that as an intelligence agent you must have had a comfortable life. How did you survive financially during those first few months?

I had the advantage of having many relatives there who helped me. I didn’t have a penny to spare, but I did have a place to live and food on the table. I was welcomed by my grandmother, and of course I began to work as soon as I arrived. I did a variety of jobs, but my goal always was to get closer to the world of aviation.

After Brothers to the Rescue was created I joined it. To advance in those circles, I had to spend much of what I earned on getting a lot of licenses, which are very expensive. First I worked in a store for miserable pay. Then I had a job selling low-quality heaters, but I quit that because I had to mislead people. I did flooring and roofing. I had a modest lifestyle. My main goal was always to upgrade my qualifications as a pilot.

You joined Brothers to the Rescue in May 1991. You flew over Havana with Basulto, dropping pamphlets. How could you maintain your composure when you shared the cockpit with that terrorist?

I didn’t go to the United States to fight people. I went there to fight against actions that were causing harm to Cuba, that could harm the Cuban people, Cuban property, our leaders. I went there to keep the country alerted against such activities. In those circumstances you can’t allow yourself to dwell on the personal element that repels you — you have to detach yourself from it.

On these flights you took journalists from TV stations like Univisión that were waging their anti-Cuba campaign.

In the beginning Brothers to the Rescue was probably one of the most effective psychological warfare operations ever carried out. It was waged around the issue of the balseros [rafters], a complex question that was easy to manipulate. The organization was founded by Basulto and a group of Bay of Pigs veterans, in particular from groups called infiltration teams. These groups had been trained by the CIA in the 1960s to carry out sabotage, infiltration and extraction operations, and psychological warfare.

They saw the possibility of using the balseros issue to wage a two-track psychological war: on one hand, to provoke illegal emigration from Cuba in order to destabilize Cuban society, and on the other hand, to portray Cuba in the most negative light possible in the world, as a hell from which people were fleeing. That was during the Special Period, a very propitious moment for those campaigns, with many people wanting to leave because of the economic hardships. … They made good use of that situation.

At the same time, a euphoria was developing in Miami around all of the problems Cuba had and the problems it didn’t have — that is, the ones they made up.

In that context, Brothers to the Rescue was a very effective propaganda tool. It also appealed to humanitarian sentiment. You had the rafters, individuals who were half-dead in a raft, and they would go rescue them. These combined elements made it a very strong psychological-warfare operation.

Later they evolved. As the Special Period worsened in Cuba, their hopes of social explosion grew. They began to act on the expectation, in the medium term, of an explosion in Cuba, of people going into the streets. What happened on the Malecón in August 1994 was a boost for them, wind in their sails.*

In this context they began to prepare violent actions. At our trial, evidence was presented that Brothers to the Rescue had been preparing deadly devices to be launched against Cuba, that could be used by disgruntled people against the police. These devices were like flares. Unlike fireworks, however, they were loaded with pellets and gunpowder that could damage and kill. …

What happened? The so-called rafters crisis developed, where more than 30,000 people emigrated illegally to the United States in 1994. When Washington and Cuba signed the immigration accords [Joint Communiqué of Sept. 9, 1994, and Joint Declaration of May 2, 1995], Brothers to the Rescue’s business collapsed, because the Cubans who went out to sea were going to be intercepted by the Coast Guard and returned to Cuba.

This was a hard blow for Brothers to the Rescue. They shifted toward increased provocations, trying to create a confrontation between Cuba and the United States. That’s when they started the overflights, the provocations, the famous flotillas. There had been one in April 1994, and then they began to step these up in conjunction with the Democracy Movement. So that’s what happened right up to the events of Feb. 24, 1996, which became a coup de grace for Brothers to the Rescue.

What concrete missions did you carry out?

I was in several organizations. Brothers to the Rescue was the first I joined. Obviously the main task was to keep Cuba informed of everything they were doing, all the preparations for the flotillas. … From the beginning Basulto conceived of Brothers to the Rescue as an organization that, besides focusing on the rafters, would carry out violent acts. In 1992 he consulted with me about carrying out an incursion with his planes to sabotage the national electrical system.

Later Basulto was involved in buying a Russian combat plane, a MiG-23, which he wanted to use in a violent action. It’s very common in the United States that when certain aircraft are decommissioned, they are bought by some private party. He also wanted to buy a Czech military training aircraft.

I got involved with the PUND, the National Democratic Unity Party, which carried out incursions in 1992 and 1993 along Cuba’s north coast, mainly in the area between the Varadero and Cayo Coco resorts. A PUND commando group murdered a compañero in Caibarién. I was involved in their infiltration actions. The United Liberation Command also took part in these activities.

Those groups also had to be tracked. A paramilitary group of the CANF [Cuban American National Foundation] obtained various kinds of equipment, including aircraft. They had to be located. That was part of my responsibilities. I found out the whereabouts of Posada Carriles [a CIA-trained paramilitary responsible for the bombing of a Cuban airliner over Barbados in 1976 that killed more than 70 people] through an indiscretion committed during the 1990s. Those were the kinds of activities we carried out.

Why did you cooperate with the FBI in dismantling drug operations?

I dismantled two drug operations. Why? First, everyone knows Cuba’s position against drugs. But drug trafficking there played a double role — it’s not just the harm they do as drugs, but the money was being used to finance the PUND and the United Liberation Command. To the degree you cut off their sources of financing, you would block their operations against Cuba.

It’s difficult to assess how many operations were not carried through. For example, once we sent Tony “El Gordo” [Fatso], who was financing the PUND, to prison. They were left without money. These were hard blows for them.

As an intelligence agent, how did you deal with the feeling of being watched?

As part of this work you have to act in a certain way and remain alert. It can do you harm if you overdo it. But you can never be completely relaxed. You have to find a balance. You have to tell yourself, “I have to remain alert and careful,” but on the other hand, you can’t drive yourself crazy.

In the midst of all of this, you were determined to reunite with Olga and Irmita. To what lengths did you go to achieve this? They say you even went to the U.S. Capitol.

Many considerations came into play. [Cuban-American Congresswoman] Ileana Ros-Lehtinen didn’t have the power to bring Olguita over there. That was part of the whole picture. Obviously, it was always my priority to reunite with them. But it took work because of a series of circumstances that had to come together. We were apart for six difficult years, but finally they were able to go there in December 1996.

You went to welcome them at the Miami airport dressed in a suit and tie and carrying flowers.

Our reunion had two conflicting sides. Unfortunately I had to go there accompanied by a character who was not very … [Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Democracy Movement]. But it was as if Olguita and I got married again. We had been married since 1983. After six years apart, it was beautiful and at the same time difficult, because of what Irmita had to go through. But love conquered.

Ivette was born from that love. How did Gerardo Hernández, without a child of his own, enjoy Ivette’s birth?

Gerardo was always sensitive to everything related to family. Even before Ivette was born, he was very attentive to Irmita’s arrival. Afterward he would turn up with a gift here, a kind touch there, and the same toward Olguita. We were like a family. Actually, under those conditions it was the only family we had, in the sense that they were the only people you could talk to about everything. I had relatives over there who didn’t share our way of thinking but who proved to be very kind. Gerardo took on that role in a very human way, with a great capacity for love; with Ivette he was very happy.

* The disintegration of the Soviet Bloc regimes in 1991 led to the rapid loss of 85 percent of Cuba’s foreign trade and precipitated a deep economic, social and political crisis referred to in Cuba as the Special Period. On Aug. 5, 1994, in the midst of these challenges, a riot of several hundred broke out along the Malecón waterfront in Havana following an attempted boat hijacking that was stopped by dockworkers and police. Several thousand supporters of the revolution, joined on foot by President Fidel Castro, poured into the street and peacefully diffused the provocation.