With Venezuela taken over by Hugo Chavez, a socialist dictator who worshiped Fidel Castro, the Cuban communist dictator saw an opportunity to rape and pillage the oil-rich nation. And that he did. In a new book by Cuba Archive Project executive director Maria Werlau, the Cuban American researcher explains how Fidel Castro targeted Venezuela, infiltrated it at the highest levels, and then proceeded to bleed the rich nation dry.
Exclusive: Cuba expert says Fidel Castro targeted Venezuela, saw oil rich nation as the ‘jewel in the crown’
In dialogue with ADN América, famed researcher María Werlau, executive director of Archivo Cuba – a non-profit organization that promotes human rights through studies and publications – told us about the most important aspects of her book “Cuba’s intervention in Venezuela,” which explains in detail how the Castro regime devised a perfect plan to penetrate the strategic areas of the oil country.
ADN: How did the research for the book begin?
Maria Werlau: I was not planning to write a book, but I had written a work on the medical brigade in Venezuela, since since 2010 we have been dedicated to that topic, so I was accumulating research on many topics related to Cuba.
A few years ago, in New York, I met Diego Arria, former Venezuelan ambassador to the U.N., and Antonio Ledezma, a prominent Venezuelan politician and lawyer, and I asked them why they didn’t emphasize Cuba’s influence in Venezuela more and they responded that the country was dealing with many problems at once and that the Cuban intervention had not been documented.
That’s when I decided to search my files and give them information on the subject. So, preparing a document, I began to question how serious and influential Cuba’s intervention in Venezuela is.
I realized that there was not enough information in English about this problem, and in Spanish there were only pieces scattered. That’s how my book started, questioning myself and exhausting the different parts of the research.
From the beginning I knew that the book had to be published in both languages. It was published in English in August 2019 and in Spanish in December of that year. Now, a publishing house in Argentina published the book with a new prologue that updates what has happened since then.
ADN: How did Cuba manage to occupy Venezuela?
Maria Werlau: Fidel Castro considered Venezuela the jewel in the crown. Their plan, with which they came to power in January 1959, hid the communist alliance that they already had planned.
The Cuban Revolution came to power with the promise of restoring democracy and, in addition, Fidel sought to expand said revolution throughout the continent. Three weeks after being promoted, he had already traveled to Venezuela because some university students had invited him to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of the Venezuelan dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez. At that moment he meets with Rómulo Betancourt, asking him to join his plan to spread the revolution and to provide economic support to Cuba, but Rómulo refuses.
Years later, Fidel watched Chávez’s speech after his failed coup in 1992 and thought, “This is the man.” Upon leaving prison, Chávez met with Fidel in Havana in ’94 and he offered him help to win the elections, financing his campaign.
Chávez comes to power with the same lies that Fidel Castro came with, and openly shows his collaborative relationship with Cuba after having accused it of being a dictatorship.
Cubans begin to arrive to the social brigades (educational, sports, medical, among others), the Babalawo arrive, the armed forces begin to be trained through a change in military doctrine, introducing the military into business to preserve the regime. The last piece was to control the Directorate of Military Intelligence, which is the one that monitors the military themselves.
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But don’t worry, Latrines don’t learn, no matter how badly they screw up, and they still love Castro, Inc.