Cuba Thwarts Second Terrorist Plot in Less Than a Year
Cuba's Ministry of the Interior claims the U.S. government bankrolled and organized a terrorist plot, an allegation the U.S. will likely deny
On Sunday, Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) released a statement through its state-run media arm, Granma, announcing it stopped a terrorist plot – the second in less than a year. Ardenys García Álvarez, a Cuban citizen who emigrated to the United States in 2014, was arrested for illegally entering Cuba and allegedly smuggling firearms and ammunition to other suspects on the island to commit acts of terrorism against the country.
MININT suggests that the latest attempted terrorist plot is part of a larger action connected to arrests made on the island in December when a man who rode a modified JetSki from the Florida Keys transported weapons and ammunition to Cuba. In the release, the agency also accused the U.S. government of funding and helping organize an attack.
“The actions of the forces of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) prevented the implementation of the plans designed, directed and financed, once again, from the United States and generated an investigative process focused on the facts and the people involved,” reads the report posted on Cuban state media and translated for this article.
According to the statement, Cuban Television will air a special report on July 8, at 8 PM EST after the Primetime National News to show evidence collected that helped expose the terrorist plots and their participants.
In December, I highlighted some evidence that suggests the United States knew about terrorist plots against Cuba ahead of time and warned U.S. citizens about them. The U.S. predictably denies any involvement in terrorism against the island nation. However, many of the U.S.-based players I identified as part of a growing level of extremism against Cuba were implicated by the Cuban government in December. The U.S. has not denounced the charges against them.
Instead, it removed Cuba in May from the list of countries “not cooperating fully” in the fight against terrorism. This led to the resumption of anti-terrorism law enforcement cooperation between the two countries. It should be stated that this is a separate designation from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list which former president Donald Trump placed Cuba on separately.
Meanwhile, the Cuban government faced immediate criticism from outlets aligned with US foreign policy. The reported terrorism plot has yet to receive significant attention.
“As a practice, the Cuban regime has always promoted "snitching" as "civic" behavior aligned with the principles of the so-called "revolution." Informing on others is part of the totalitarian DNA introduced in a society dominated by over 60 years of single-party dictatorship," CiberCuba Editorial Team
The CiberCuba editorial team's criticism of Cuba's announcement due to the use of anonymous sources seems disingenuous. After all, the U.S. and many other Western nations rely heavily on similar networks of citizens to report suspected crimes anonymously. From neighborhood watch groups to social media apps and campaigns such as the “see something, say something” push in the U.S., most countries are not so different from Cuba.
As CiberCuba’s editorial team skirts around the terrorist plot they ignore their own reporting on abandoned boats found in Guantánamo and Sancti Spíritus, Cuba in June. While it is well known that drug traffickers often abandon boats on Cuba’s coast, we must remember that countless plots against the Cuban government have previously been linked to abandoned boats as well.
Questions about who funds CiberCuba and other similar biased media outlets have been raised for years. Charges that are largely based on statements from contributors to those outlets.
Dealing with propaganda requires always scrutinizing a story regardless of the source. I look forward to seeing the report on Cuban Television and reporting on the findings as I have done previously. Expect some of the same links to terrorism and to the same suspects that were exposed almost seven months ago, which can be traced back for years.
I’m a freelance writer and journalist for Capitol Press, The Antagonist Magazine, and Unicorn Riot. Find me on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work become a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp