Cuba: Castro Exports Repression to Venezuela – Capitol Hill Cubans

Cuba: Castro Exports Repression to Venezuela – Capitol Hill Cubans

Cuban advisers bolster Venezuelan regime

Cuba’s communist government has deployed thousands of technical and military advisers to Venezuela to bolster the regime of leftist President Hugo Chavez, as that country faces energy shortages and increased repression against opposition political leaders.

A senior Cuban security official and former interior minister, Gen. Ramiro Valdes, arrived in Caracas, Venezuela, in February to take charge of a Cuban government mission that over the past several years has grown to an estimated 40,000 advisers and aid workers, including a large contingent of Cuban military personnel.

The advisers include intelligence and security officers, political advisers and medical personnel [...]

Mr. Chavez’s opponents fear the Cuban advisers are behind the repressive measures taken by the government to secure a victory for Mr. Chavez in congressional elections scheduled for September.

Several prominent opposition leaders have been arrested over the past month. They include Gov. Alvarez Paz of the oil-rich state of Zulia and Guillermo Zuloaga, president of the last surviving independent newschannel, Globovision [...]

“There are indications that agents of the Cuban G-2 [military intelligence] are operating openly at all the main military installations, principally the Ministry of Defense, the strategic operations command, the joint chiefs of staff headquarters, command centers of the army, navy, air force and national guard, as well as the military intelligence directorate” and the internal security service, said retired Brig. Gen. Francisco Uson, who served as defense planning director and briefly held the post of finance minister in Mr. Chavez’s government.