US OFFICIALS TO CUBAN EXILE STOP VIOLENCE HERE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100010019-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: October 30, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18 :CIA-RDP90-00552 R000100010019-1
CFIRISTIAi SCI 1CE MONITOR
ARTICLE . :r A:D 30 OCTOBER 1981
C,3 FACE
R. _ dais boo Cuban e E I
New Jersey arrest nets suspected
leader of Omega 7 anti-Castro terrorists
By Jeif Stein
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
Washington
Top United States diplomatic and law enforcement offi-
cials want to send a message to anti-Communist Cuban exile
groups in America: the tough anti-Castro line of the Reagan
administration is not a license for violence here.
The government hopes it has successfully telegraphed its
signal with the quiet arrest in New Jersey three weeks ago of
a major anti-Castro activist, whom federal, state, and local
investigators suspect to be a leader of the Omega 7 terrorist
group. The group has taken responsibility for two murders
and more than a dozen bombings with an anti-Castro theme
over the past two years.
On the morning of Oct-9, an FBI team led by Special
Agent Tom Menapace arrested Armando Santana Alvarez in
his West.New York. home and charged him with several
counts of using. a -false US passport for travels throughout
Latin America.: Investigators say they later confiscated a' Cuban Nationalist Movement. Under the attorney general's
guidelines authorizin
{{ large amount of
intense cover
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age o
uana an
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ree handguns on theprem
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ices. He was arraigned in the US District Court in Newark, 1we covered him.',' Omega 7 is the name used to credit para-
but the arrest warrant was issued in Puerto Rico, which was mmtarymanuevers by the Cuban Nationalist Movement.
Santana's port-of reentry into the US. He has since been re- "It has obviously got to be a major blow to them," adds
leased on bail.- another federal official who has tracked the Omega 7 group
"Everybody in the government saw it as a big,, big ar- for years. Santana has been the bead of the Cub mliationalist
rest," says a senior State Department specialist on Cuban Movement since 1978.-which authorities blame for a number
affairs. "Armando Santana is clearly one of the most impor- of assassinations and several bombings, he says. Omega 7
taut guys in the hard-Line, anti-Castro organizations in this : has taken credit for many of these' tr> sr ?-:
'
country." The official adds: "Any guys from the Cuban com- I The-two'New York area murders clan
s d by Omega 7
munity who think they have been unleashed better take no- were a 1978 Sunday morning slaying of Eutalio Negrin. a Cu-
tice. Santana's arrest should be taken as a signal that break- ban exile who favored a "dialogue" -with. Fidel Castro, and
ing American laws will not be tolerated." i the assassination last year in rash-hour traffic of Felix
The remarks appeared to be a reference to the repeated 1 Garcia Rodriguez; a Cuban attacheat the United Nations.
vows of US Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. to "go to I Armando Santana was asked whether he w?as the head of
the source" in. Cuba to neutralize Castro's influence on revo- Omega 7, as alleged, in a 1979 New York magazine interview.
lutionary movements in Central America. Such intentions, He responded: "I will not confirm it and I will not deny it.
I-the official implies, should not be interpreted by Cuban exile , Why don't you bring me the proof?"
groups as approval for their violent campaigns in theUS. A native of Carderas,-Cuba, Santana faces charges on
~,. The stamps in Santana's passport, -meanwhile;-tell a each violation of the passport laws, which could lead to a .';
1 curious story. Federal and local officials in a joint task force $2?004 fine and five years in jail if he is con icted? New Jersey
authorities could, say federal officials, bring charges stern- '
ming from the confiscation of marijuana and handguns.
Santana's lawyer, Raymcnd Brown Jr. of Newark, was un-
.available for comment. .
on terrorism who have, examined; it saythat Santana had
traveled to such countries as Chile. Argentina. Uruguay, and
Paraguay over the past year in the company of a "suspected
arms dealer" whom they refuse to identify at present.
According to an informed federal law official- the investi-
g n na lea to iantana sarrest ongina wi a su ris
In urce: a can secret po ce. The Chileans, accord-
1 in~ gtoo this account, p off a ntra telligence
Agency operative in e t. at he had traveled ere, and the
intorrna on was relayed the , lne n a ege y
c ec a t manifests and passports on -file at the State
Department -until they discovered Santana's-picture under
the name of. Alberto Liborno, a US citizen ?of:Puerto Rican
origins. Investigators, said Santana had procured the pass-
port, a New. York driver's license, and Puerto Rican birth
certificate on the black market without Liborno'sknowledge.
A senior federal terrorist specialist labels Santana "a rec-
ognized terrorist as heir apparent to theleadership of the
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/18: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100010019-1