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MIAMI
IN SHOCK
Leader of
anti-Chávez march
arrested on fraud charges
BY
JEAN-GUY ALLARD —Special for Granma
International—
A
devastating blow for the extremist circles of Miami’s
Cuban-American mafia: one of its best known figures,
Antonio "Tony" Calatayud, organizer and
spokesman for the anti-Chávez march on January 17,
has been arrested and detained for financial fraud
at the expense of public health insurance.
In
order to swindle Medicaid, the pharmacy owner and
alleged human rights defender didn’t even flinch
while forging the identities of his least favorite
clients to fabricate receipts to the tune of over
$290,000 USD.
With a
lengthy terrorist record alongside Jorge Mas Canosa
and Luis Posada Carriles, Calatayud, former leader
of the Cuban Independence Party and Project Cuba
and, currently a radio commentator on the airwaves
of La Poderosa and promoter of a local march against
Chávez, is without any doubt one of the Miami mafia’s
most "prestigious" figures.
His
arrest and detention by the federal police have come
as a shock to the organizers of the reactionary
march against Chávez on January 17, which brought
together representatives of over one hundred
Cuban-American groups, among them, figures openly
linked to terrorism.
HE
USED THE IDENTITIES OF THE MOST DESTITUTE
According
to the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald, which
failed to even mention the individual’s criminal
past (as a matter of practice), Calatayud, owner of
the La Primera Latin pharmacy, located at 300 SW 107
Avenue, was caught falsifying Medicaid coverage.
"He
forged the identities of some of the most vulnerable
citizens in order to obtain state funds for
fraudulent purposes," stated Florida Attorney
Charlie Crist and Miami-Dade County Prosecutor
Catherine Fernández Rundle, who ordered the
Calatayud’s arrest.
The
fraud was uncovered during an pharmacy audit by
Medicaid inspectors who discovered that the charges
to national insurance were in excess of purchase
receipts.
According
to Attorney General Crist, the audit shows that
Calatayud stole over $290,000 USD from Medicaid
between January 1999 and October 2000. Approximately
1,300 fraudulent charge slips were submitted to the
government insurance program for the
underprivileged.
The
capo of Project Cuba and, lately, boisterous
promoter of anti-Chávez activities, now faces two
felony charges, including fines of $50,000 and
$10,000, respectively, along with a possible maximum
of 30 years in prison. Moreover, two additional
charges of insurance fraud have been filed against
Calatayud, which could tack on five years plus
$5,000 USD on each charge.
The
first trial hearing is scheduled for February 13 in
Miami.
FROM
MAS CANOSA TO FROMETA
Calatayud
was arrested on January 21, only three days after
the anti-Chávez march of which he was both promoter
and spokesman.
On
January 16, the Spanish press agency EFE reported
that the aim of the demonstration was to "back
all the opposition forces in an effort to overthrow
Chávez," and had the support of "more
than 100 Miami-based organizations." Among them
were the F-4 Commandos headed by terrorist Rodolfo
Frometa who, in September in Miami, openly announced
his collaboration with some Venezuelan military
officials in planning terrorist activities.
Another
Florida anti-Chávez activist, Felipe Fontanills,
director of the terrorist organization Junta
Patriotica Cubana, lamented Calatayud’s arrest. He
stated publicly that, from a patriotic point of
view, Calatayud was an exemplary citizen. Defended
by retired U.S. Colonel Farias, who is also a
military intelligence specialist and commentator on
La Poderosa radio, the attorney questioned the
decision to arrest Calatayud only a matter of hours
after the march he had promoted.
El
Nuevo Herald
failed to mention Calatayud’s previous record in
illicitly approving funds. As far back as 1978, in
cahoots with Miami terrorists Rafael, Raúl
Villaverde Lamadrid, Pedro Lucas Roig and Antonio de
la Cova, he was investigated for embezzling
Medicaid.
As a
member of the terrorist organization RECE, founded
and funded by the Bacardí Company and the CIA,
Calatayud, a veteran of the failed Bay of Pigs
invasion in 1961, participated in various terrorist
conspiracies alongside then-CIA operative Jorge Mas
Canosa. From the outset he actively participated in
terrorist activities with characters like Luis
Posada Carriles, currently in prison in Panama, and
Orlando Bosch, who presently resides in Miami.
In
1973, Calatayud organized a plan to sabotage the
Cuban Embassy in Paris, France. The plot failed in
light of the explosive device killing terrorist Juan
Felipe de la Cruz as he was activating it.
The
Miami swindler also actively participated in a
conspiracy to assassinate Cuban President Fidel
Castro during a visit to Mexico. He personally hired
Mexican resident and "veteran" mercenary
Manuel Camargo to check out the airport and other
places of interest in the Mexican capital for the
express purpose of planning the failed attempt.
Calatayud
later directed the Cuban Independence Party, a
hard-line terrorist group out of South Florida.
During the 1990s he was information chief of WQBA La
Cubanisima radio station. He ultimately headed
"Project Cuba," appointing himself general
director of the organization.
Various
sources confirm that Calatayud ordered and directed
the bombing of the Cuban Commercial Office in
Montreal, Canada on April 4, 1972, causing the death
of a young Cuban diplomat, Sergio Pérez Castillo.
K.O.
IN SANTO DOMINGO
Last
November, Calatayud was responsible for an incident
in the presence of Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe
Pérez Roque at a press conference in the Dominican
Republic.
Posing
as a journalist, he approached the Cuban dignitary
to cause a scene and then tackled Dominican
journalist Raúl Pérez Peńa, who attempted to
restrain him from entering the press area. The two
men wrestled on the floor until security intervened
and arrested the Miami impostor.
Only a
few months ago, Calatayud — while in the process
of robbing the federal government of Florida —
took the "initiative" of organizing a
boycott of Mexican products in the wake of an
incident at the Mexican embassy in Havana.
The
arrest and detention of Calatayud, one of Miami’s
"star" personalities, only serves to show
the true colors of those individuals seeking to
"liberate" Cuba. These mafiosi, however,
only attest to the heroism of the Five Cuban
patriots unjustly serving prison terms in the United
States for fighting those very terrorist activities.
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