I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Havana. March 4,  2003

BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD —Special for Granma International—

It sounds like something out of a third-rate B-movie: Héctor Pesquera, in the role of "incorruptible" FBI chief for South Florida pays a friendly visit to the Miami police chief, accompanied by Camilo Padreda, number one roué of Miami real estate speculation, friend of the mafia — particularly if they are Republicans or drug-traffickers — the man that Raúl Martínez, the mayor of Hialeah, publicly described as "a scumbag".

Describing the meeting was a reporter from the Miami New Times (the most credible publication emanating from the city), whose research is making the local oligarchy tremble with fear. In an article entitled "Meet Camilo Padreda, dynamic businessman, faithful Republican, patron of law enforcement, convicted felon", journalist Tristam Korten tells how Padreda has just lost his closest contact in the local police force after the enforced resignation of his great friend Chief Raúl Martínez (no relation) and goes on to describe, in a detailed portrait of this individual, the beautiful friendship that the bandit businessman shares with the federal police chief.

In order to fully savor the beauty of this colossal police saga, it is important to know who exactly is Camilo Padreda.

Here, in a few paragraphs, is his rather enlightening curriculum.

With the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Camilo Padreda — one of dictator Fulgencio Batista’s police agents and a member of the Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities (the sinister BRAC, a brainchild of Alan Dulles’ CIA) — fled to Florida.

There he became a professional speculator on the financial and real estate markets and soon learnt that the best opportunities came from having corrupt police officers on his side.

At the end of the 1970s, Padreda became buddies with Bay of Pigs invasion veteran Guillermo Hernández Cartaya at the Texan company Jefferson Savings & Loans. Hernández Cartaya, founder of World Financial Services, distinguished himself with his ability to efficiently launder profits from drug-trafficking operations and in financing CORU, the terrorist coalition created by Orlando Bosch under the orders of George Bush Sr. In 1982, Padreda and Hernández Cartaya were charged in a federal court of embezzling more than $500,000 USD from Jefferson S&L, money-laundering and trafficking drugs and arms.

Miraculously, the CIA intervened in the case and… the charges were dropped, becoming a simple case of tax evasion. Jerome Sanford, the DA responsible for the case, was so shocked that he made an official request to the CIA to see all the documents connected with the case. The CIA refused. Point-blank.

In 1985, Camilo Padreda "recycled" his links with Miguel Recarey, president of the International Medical Centers (IMC). Recarey has developed the habit of walking the streets of Miami carrying a 9mm machine gun. He lives in a mansion that has been turned into a veritable arsenal, jam-packed with AR-15 and Uzis, complete with bulletproof windows strengthened by reinforced steel. This prosperous Cuban-American financier has the support of Mafioso Santos Traficante, former king of the Mafia in Havana along with Meyer Lansky.

The IMC is a company linked to the world of commercial healthcare that has registered the fastest growth rate in the country and receives more that $30 million USD from Medicare every month.

Padreda arranged it so that the IMC set up its headquarters in one of his properties, constructed with funds from the department for Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a federal agency that is corrupt above and beyond the norm.

In 1989, his connection with the HUD "blew up" and he was forced to admit to having defrauded the Department out of various millions of dollars.

Recarey, for his part, left the country. This close friend of Jeb Bush and Camilo Padreda remains today one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives: guilty of the most spectacular fraud that Medicare has ever suffered.

When the Miami New Times journalist questioned Padreda about Héctor Pesquera, he simply replied that South Florida’s FBI chief "is a good friend".

Pesquera is a little more prudent. When asked, he refuses to give the journalist an interview. Just like that. With no explanation.

But one should not be surprised about such a tender friendship: Paul Philip, Pesquera’s predecessor, was also a "very good friend", points out Padreda who, (no doubt) is a friend to everyone. Also appearing on his list of "good friends" are the local head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and "Raúl", former Police Department chief…..Hey! Welcome to Miami!

Of course, nobody’s perfect: Padreda also has enemies. Raúl Martínez, the mayor of Hialeah, for example, who suffered quite a bit when, 10 years ago during another corruption case, Padreda admitted to having carried out schemes of bribery and corruption and confirmed having paid him a generous "commission".

"Camilo is nothing but a scumbag", stated the politician. "I do not understand how anybody who is part of law enforcement has anything to do with him."

What is certain is that this "scumbag" came to have real personal power inside the Police Department when Raúl Martínez (the other one!) arrived to take over as chief of police. "The joke was that Camilio runs the department. Actually it wasn’t a joke", stated an official to the Miami New Times reporter.

In fact the joke went as far as Martínez entrusting Padreda with the organization of the Hemispheric Conference of Police Chiefs that took place in Miami in October 2000.

And that’s how Padreda found himself in the office of the Police Chief at the same time as Maurice Ferré, then mayoral candidate, who had already declared that, if elected, he would nominate a new chief to the controversial department. Ferrer recalls that Padreda explained this unusual visit in the following way: "You know, Pesquera and I are best friends, and in fact I brought him over to meet the chief."

(According to the Miami New Times, this was the moment when Pesquera was considering whether or not to make a bid for Martinez’ job when the police chief eventually retired.)

When U.S. coastguards intercepted La Esperanza yacht, property of a high-ranking CANF terrorist in Puerto Rican coastal waters in October 1997, they discovered a stash of seven crates of munitions, military uniforms, six radios, a satellite telephone, night vision goggles, two assault rifles and a crew of 4 Cuban-Americans on board. Héctor Pesquera — "special agent and FBI head on in Puerto Rico — quickly appeared on the jetty for the usual public relations spectacle.

(In the following January, one of the "honourable" crewmembers of La Esperanza, Juan Bautista Márquez, released on bail, was arrested once again…this time accused by the DEA of importing 365 kilograms of cocaine into the United States, conspiracy to import a further 2,000 kilos, and money-laundering).

Months later, when La Esperanza’s conspirators were finally acquitted (thanks to a fixed trial), Héctor Pesquera celebrated the suspects’ definitive release, together with the judges and the criminals, by celebrating a mass and throwing a party!

So he got his just rewards then.

Police chief Louis Freeh sent him to Miami with the title "Special Agent in Charge" (SAC) of South Florida. A blessing for the banana Republic’s Mafia.

He quickly demonstrated that he had understood his mission.

Pesquera was nominated on September 2; on the 14 of that same month, the Florida media reported the discovery of a "network" of "Castro’s spies" and the arrest of several of its members.

King of the press conference that took place at FBI headquarters, Héctor Pesquera was triumphant.

Meanwhile, Luis Posada Carriles – the most dangerous terrorist in the hemisphere (along with his twin Orlando Bosch), Pedro Remón, Guillermo Novo and Gaspar Jiménez (the last three permanent residents in Miami) bought explosives and other materials with CANF money, aiming to assassinate President Fidel Castro in Panama.

The majority of the supposed Al-Qaeda members who took part in the attacks on September 11 received flight training in Florida, without Pesquera’s intervention.

In the midst of this kingdom of terrorist fauna, the trial of the Five took place. Conclusion: disproportionately long sentences and a formal ban by Judge Joan Lenerd for two of the accused: in the event of their eventual release from prison, they are prohibited from visiting places frequented by individuals or groups connected with terrorism, organizations that advocate violence, or figures from the world of organized crime.

Miami’s terrorist ringleaders have publicly celebrated the Five’s conviction; CANF even held a special ceremony to congratulate the FBI for their "work" against the Five. Along with "Special Agent in Charge" Pesquera, also present at the event was…Miami police chief, Raúl Martínez.

Five Cubans who dedicated their time to infiltrating terrorist groups, mixing with violent extremists in an attempt to thwart their criminal plans, have been cruelly convicted in a trial prompted and directed by an FBI chief who strolls around Miami with those very same criminals and a notorious con man linked with dirty business dealings in a city that these men have turned into the most corrupt in the United States.

Faced with a particular sense of ethics, the concept of justice, strange happenings, eclectic friendships and the whole of Héctor Pesquera’s eloquent history, when it comes to the "Special Agent" there is no alternative but to ask the rather naïve question: Is the man who was responsible for the spectacular arrest of the five "Cuban spies" and subsequently involved in their rigged trial merely a corrupt police officer at the service of Cuban-American terrorism?

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