Comandos committed to a free Cuba

Sun Sentinel ^ | 4/13/03

[areafiftyone]

MIAMI --

Deep in south Miami-Dade County, a group of people dress up in camouflage, pack high-powered weapons and train for a possible armed invasion of Cuba.

They are members of Comandos F-4, a Cuban exile organization that thinks armed action is the only way to bring change to Cuba. It is one of the last paramilitary groups still training in the United States since the heyday of such organizations in the 1960s and 1970s, when bombings and armed incursions into Cuba were common occurrences.

Since then, a number of the former militants have died and others have laid down their weapons. But some, like Comandante Rodolfo Frómeta of Comandos F-4, remain committed.

"I will never abandon the cause of a free Cuba," says Frómeta, the highest-ranking member of Comandos F-4 in the United States.

For some critics, bands of exile militants seem like an anachronism or even a joke. But the Cuban government takes them seriously.

Frómeta's recent declaration that Comandos F-4 operatives tried to assassinate a Cuban agent in Havana sparked outrage from Cuban officials, who say innocent people have been harmed in attacks by such groups.

In 1997, a string of bombings at Havana hotels -- allegedly financed by Cuban exiles -- left an Italian tourist dead. It reminded many in Cuba of one of the most notorious cases blamed on anti-Castro hardliners: the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, which killed 73 people on board, including members of Cuba's national fencing team.

U.S. authorities, Cuban officials complained, have long turned a blind eye to the paramilitary groups behind such violence.

"These groups act freely," said Juan Hernández Acén, spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C. "They make declarations to the press. Either the United States government is not paying attention to these declarations or they are not doing anything."

Hernández said the Cuban government has passed on information about people it has identified as terrorists, but nothing has come of it.

[sd-joe]

"the Cuban government has passed on information about people it has identified as terrorists, but nothing has come of it."

One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter.

Just ask Reuters.

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[Jeff Chandler]

Maybe we should encourage them to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro. I know, we could promise them air support.

[KriegerGeist]

Now that the whole world has witnessed how easy it is to take out a regime and leave the country and citizens for the most par unharmed...everybody wants to do it.

These guys are probably asking the President of B2 stealth bombers with precission-guided bunker-busters right now.

[areafiftyone]

After his release, Frómeta returned to South Florida. He formed Comandos F-4 after a split with Alpha 66 in 1994. That same year, he was arrested and convicted of trying to buy a Stinger anti-aircraft missile, anti-tank rockets and plastic military explosives from an undercover FBI agent.

Not if he keeps getting arrested! With the weapons they have now - they will never be able to do it. They need the help of the U.S. I hope they get it.