• BETWEEN 1990 and 2001, Cuban border patrol troops stopped 10
                   attempts to infiltrate the island, detaining 28 mercenaries from Miami
                   terrorist gangs. During the same period, U.S. authorities intercepted
                   or learned about another 10 terror "commandos," but none them
                   have ever been sentenced in U.S. courts.

                   During a roundtable discussion recently broadcast on Cuban
                   television, Manuel Hevia, director of Cuban State Security’s Historical
                   Research Center, presented this eloquent summary of terrorist
                   activities over the past 10 years that have been concocted in Miami
                   and tolerated by the FBI:

                   • July 4, 1992: an armed group is detected off the coast of Havana
                   and later north of Varadero. After having problems with their boat’s
                   motor, they are rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. Despite
                   discovering numerous weapons aboard the speedboat, the FBI frees
                   those individuals after a simple questioning.

                   • October 7, 1992: counterrevolutionary elements carry out an
                   armed attack on the Meliá Varadero Hotel. Upon returning to U.S.
                   waters, they are intercepted, questioned and then released. Without
                   further inconvenience.

                   • January 1993: five individuals armed with heavy machine guns are
                   arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard as they sail towards Cuba. They
                   are detained, questioned by the FBI and then freed.

                   • April 2, 1993: a Cypriot tanker is shot at by counterrevolutionaries
                   seven miles north of Matanzas. After being picked up by U.S. officials,
                   the attackers are released shortly afterward.

                   • May, 21, 1993: nine armed mercenaries with machine guns and
                   explosives are detained by the U.S. Customs Service while on their
                   way to the island. They are released with no further problems.

                   • March 11, 1994: an Alpha 66 commando group fires shots at the
                   Guitart Cayo Coco Hotel. On returning to the United States, they
                   give hold a press conference. The U.S. authorities don’t interfere.

                   • October 6, 1994: another Alpha 66 commando repeats the
                   operation! The FBI takes no action.

                   • May 20, 1995: Alpha 66 members carry out the same action
                   against the same hotel for the third time. No FBI reaction.

                   • July 12, 1995: three individuals are arrested with weapons and
                   explosives after an operation against Cuba. The FBI interrogate them
                   before immediately releasing them.

                   • January 23, 1996: five intercepted terrorists are released the same
                   day.

                   In terms of supporting terrorism, the FBI can certainly boast about
                   its wide experience.

                   Paradoxically, the empire’s most important police agency — attentive
                   to the whims of the anti-Cuba mafia and responding to directives
                   from on high — was indisputably efficient when it came to staging a
                   rigged trial against five Cubans "guilty" of wanting to stop the authors
                   of these terrorist attacks.

                   Oh yes, the empire’s political police knew how to show its true face.