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THIS
IS MIAMI!
Introducing Héctor
Pesquera — gangsters’ buddy, protector of
terrorists and FBI special agent
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.
AN
ENLIGHTENING CRIMINAL CURRICULUM
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.
HECTOR
"IS A GOOD FRIEND"
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.)
FROM
PUERTO RICO TO THE FIVE
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.
A NAÏVE
QUESTION
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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