Weapons seizure should halt efforts to cozy up to Cuba

Weapons seizure should halt efforts to cozy up to Cuba

July 25, 2013|By Guillermo I. Martinez



This column is dedicated to all those fools who believe the United

States should lift sanctions on Cuba to improve relations with the

island's Communist regime.



It was a "coincidence" that on the days that the United States and Cuba

were scheduled to start talks on immigration, Panamanian officials

discovered a contraband of old Soviet-era weapons on a North Korean

cargo attempting to cross the Panama Canal. The Chon Chon Gang left

Manzanillo, Cuba and was headed to North Korea with a cargo of sugar and

240 tons of undeclared weapons in well-hidden compartments.



Both Havana and Pyongyang quickly protested the seizure and accused the

United States of being the instigator. The U.S. government may have been

concerned about a possible shipment of drugs. Instead the Panamanian

marines engaged in a violent standoff against the North Korean crew,

protecting the weapons hidden under the sugar.



Days after the seizure Panamanian marines were still searching the dirty

and smelly ship looking for more hidden compartments where more weapons

could be found. First they found old radar systems and 30-year-old

anti-missile weapons. Then they found two Mig-21s.



Both the North Korean and the Cubans said the weapons were "obsolete

defensive weapons" that had been sent to North Korea for repairs and

then an eventual return to Cuba.



No U.S. government official or pundit has accepted at face value the

explanations given. Both governments are lying.



Jaime Suchliki, the Director of the Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at

the University of Columbus, has made the most comprehensive effort at

putting the incident in perspective.



He poses several questions:

•If the weapons were being sent from Cuba to be repaired in North Korea,

why were they hidden in the hold of the ship under thousands of Cuban

sugar bags?

•Why did the North Korean crew resist the Panamanian boarding of their

ship in Panamanian waters? And why did the ship's captain try to commit

suicide?

•If Cuba needed to repair these weapons, why didn't Gen. Raul Castro

send them to Russia? After all, these were Russian weapons.



Suchiliki posits the possibility that these weapons were ultimately

destined possibly to an African country, like the Congo. North Korea has

indeed sent weapons to its Communist allies in the Congo. Is it possible

that Cuba has now joined the effort, Suchliki asks.



Maybe, just maybe, Cuba was sending these weapons to North Korea in

exchange for more modern weapons that would help Pyongyang's efforts at

pressuring the United States into direct talks between the two nations.



So far, nobody has a definite answer.



What we do have is a clear effort by two nations who consider the United

States an enemy state attempting to hide a weapons-exchange program.

This is not good for U.S. security.



The incident also questions the renewed efforts by the Obama

Administration of improving relations with the Cuban government. Isn't

it obvious Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and

Syria have strong diplomatic ties, all aimed at undermining U.S.

diplomacy in Latin America, the Middle East and the Far East? Why then

does the United States continue to hold immigration talks with Cuba?



People forget that the embargo was imposed because Cuba expropriated

without compensation billions of dollars of U.S. property in the island.

Cuba has not offered to repay for those properties. So why should the

United States seek to lift the embargo?



Again, it is important to remember the embargo does not forbid Cuba from

buying food and medicine from the United States. It only demands that

Cuba pay for their purchases in cash.



The seizure of the North Korean vessel should be a new warning that one

should not approach Cuba to improve relations. Cuba is an enemy of the

United States and should be treated as such.



Guillermo I. Martínez on Twitter at @g_martinez123, or email him at

Guimar123@gmail.com



Source: "Weapons seizure should halt efforts to cozy up to Cuba - Sun

Sentinel" -

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-07-25/news/fl-gmcol-cuba-0725-20130725_1_weapons-cuban-and-cuban-american-studies-north-korea