Offshore Islands
Page 78
Time had passed and Raul Cienfuegos had made his preparations with his group of young officers who shared his vision of the future. It was time to take action against those who wished to preserve the communist revolution, to prevent them from consolidating their position. They were trying to seduce the Cuban people with window dressing, making the worn out old whore of revolutionary politics look like a fresh young novia.
The Cuban Communist Party or CCP, which had been established in 1965, was omnipresent in all corners of Cuban society through its different organisations. There were 100,000 Committees for the Defence of the Revolution, or CDR’s, that represented seventy five percent of the total population. Almost every Cuban was a member of an emanation of the CCP, either through youth organisations, cultural organisations or unions.
What would happen after Castro? A look at the consequences of the death or downfall of seemly immortal communist leaders across the world was a good indication, with one or two exceptions, such as North Korea. In Cuba that version was improbable since no successor had been groomed to continue Castro’s work. Castro’s own children had left Cuba, they had sensibly chosen to live abroad. The probability that the system would fall apart was extremely high.
Nevertheless, it was in the interest of a large number of politicians, government officials and those having a vested interest through jobs or privileges, to try to ensure the continuity of the system.
They were the principal enemies of Raul Cienfuegos. To change the system he needed money, to pay his soldiers and police with real money, vast quantities of money to provide jobs that would ensure a decent standard of living, not the miserable survival existence that they had had to live with under Castro. Money bought loyalty, money bought allies, he was a realist, never in history had people fought for non-ideological ideas without a full stomach and a solid roof over their heads.
He would offer them a future, a materialist future, food in their stomachs, not the empty illusion of Fidel’s communism.
The trouble was that Cuba was poor - dirt poor - possibly one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Cienfuegos was forced to make a pact with the devil – Ortega and his associates - to attract the money he needed. He would reckon with Ortega later, when he achieved his goals.
He did not want Yankee money, with the strings and obligations to respect their human rights ideas, utopian legislation governing money and ownership, for a country where such rights had never really existed for the masses. He was not against those principals, but in time, when he controlled the country and cleansed it of the communist disease that had eaten at its body and soul, there would be enough time for that.
His spies had carefully followed Castlemain’s men, Arrowsmith and Brel. They were decent men, competent and ambitious. Unfortunately for them it was time to implement his plans, commencing by crippling Cayo Saetia, removing its head.
Castlemain with certain of his associates were about to leave Guadeloupe for Grand Cayman on his yacht according to the reports from his informers. Cienfuegos’ men would ensure they never arrived at their destination.
Chapter 79
A Storm Breaks