CovertAction Institute

Cuba’s Real Crime in the Minds of American Elites

In the eyes of American policy elites Cuba’s most unforgivable crime is not even its socialism, which is now badly frayed, but rather its sovereignty. Cuba’s persistent independence and oppositional survival as a state is an American imperial humiliation.

Revolutionary Cuba’s mere existence threatens the cynicism, complacency and defeatism that does so much to maintain imperial order at a global scale. As long as little Cuba—only 90 miles from Florida—can govern itself, there will be dissidents of all political varieties in countries across the Global South who will think: If Cuba can do it, maybe we can change leadership and transform conditions in our country too.

Closely linked to the general abstract threat of Cuba sovereignty are Cuba’s numerous explicit victories against the American foreign policy establishment and, particularly, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

From the Bay of Pigs in 1961, to Angola in 1975, and other African countries throughout the 1980s, Cuban arms beat CIA-backed forces. Across Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s—in places like El Salvador and Nicaragua—Cuban training and support played a decisive role in beating CIA-supported mercenaries and checking the worst excesses of CIA-backed repressive governments.

The Revolution’s nationalization of U.S. business operations is still deeply resented. But the Cuban economy was long ago forced to adopt, at least partially, a capitalist mode of production.

Many of the expropriated companies could return to Cuba and, perhaps, negotiate limited compensation with the Cuban government in exchange for providing employment, services, technical know-how, and investments in productive capital.

But the U.S. will not let American firms go back, the same way its illegal for Americans who travel to Cuba as tourists to “trade with the enemy.”

These days Cuba exists as a mixed economy that hosts a wide variety of foreign investment and pursues a more modest, survival-oriented, foreign policy.

But it persists as an autonomous and independent state, and does so despite the U.S.’s best efforts to destroy it. Ending that sovereignty is at the heart of Trump’s current military build-up and intensified economic warfare.

Note the prominent role of the CIA in the current pressure campaign. In mid-May it was CIA Director John Ratcliffe, not Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who visited Havana and demanded that the now 95-year-old Raul Castro be handed over for prosecution. His alleged crime is the 1996 downing of two aircraft containing four Cuban Americans as they attempted to scatter counter-revolutionary leaflets over Cuba. [...]

Cuba’s Real Crime in the Minds of American Elites - CovertAction Magazine In the eyes of American policy elites Cuba’s most unforgivable crime is not even its socialism, which is now badly frayed, but rather its sovereignty. Cuba’s persistent independence and oppositional survival as a state is an American imperial humiliation. Revolutionary Cuba’s mere existence th...

CovertAction Bulletin - Musk: One Trillionaire Too Many

Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX’s public offering last week, the largest in history. As of recording, he’s worth $1.4 trillion—an unimaginably large amount of money and more than a trillion dollars over the net worth of the next wealthiest person on the planet, Google co-founder Larry Page. Page is worth just over $300 billion. In fact, combining the wealth of the people ranking numbers two through 5 on the Forbes real-time billionaires list (Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Larry Ellison of Oracle), their combined net worth is still less than Musk’s.

While cautiously avoiding Musk’s far-right political leanings and his recent incitement of racist riots in Belfast, much of the capitalist media is heralding his obscene wealth. An opinion piece published by The Washington Post considers and dismisses the idea that someone should not have such “inordinate wealth,” but suggests that “SpaceX is one of the real success stories of the past several decades” and “has created something of great value for society” that will somehow democratize wealth by flowing money through the stock market.

For those of us in the real world who don’t have hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, the cold truth is that prices continue to rise while wages stay stagnant. Inflation was up 0.5% in May compared to April, and up 4.2% over the last 12 months. Prices are up at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and as summer starts around the United States, areas impacted by significant heat will also be hit by massive increases in energy prices. Tens of thousands of people die every year due to homelessness. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, over 771,000 people in the United States experienced homelessness. The real number may be significantly higher, but still nothing compared to the fact that Elon Musk’s trillions could buy 2.5 million homes at market price and solve the housing crisis immediately.

CovertAction Bulletin – Musk: One Trillionaire Too Many - CovertAction Magazine Elon Musk has become the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX’s public offering last week, the largest in history...

Head of CIA Cold War Propaganda Offensive Was An Ideological Zealot Who Got Countless People Killed in Futile Covert Operations

Frank Wisner was a CIA legend from the early Cold War era who earned the nickname “the Mighty Wurlitzer” for his ability to supposedly orchestrate covert operations with the precision and intricacy of a symphony maestro.

Wisner, however, got countless of his own agents killed running infiltration missions behind the Iron Curtain using Eastern European émigrés, many of whom had fascist backgrounds, and into North Korea during the Korean War.

Wisner was centrally involved in the violent suppression of left-wing movements throughout Southeast Asia and in CIA coups in Iran and Guatemala that wrought havoc in those countries.

Wisner was best known as the head of the CIA’s worldwide propaganda offensive known as Operation Mockingbird resulting in the placement of CIA agents throughout the American media.

Wisner additionally helped establish Radio Free Europe to spread anti-communist messaging behind the Iron Curtain, and the Congress of Cultural Freedom (CCF) by which the CIA subsidized high-brow intellectual journals across Europe.

Wisner’s career is profiled in a new biography written by Douglas Waller entitled The Determined Spy: The Turbulent Life and Times of CIA Pioneer Frank Wisner.

Waller covered the CIA for Newsweek and Time and previously wrote a biography of Operation of Secret Services (OSS) founder William “Wild Bill” Donovan.

Waller’s establishment credentials make it clear that his book does not present radical analysis that examines how the CIA functioned as the policing arm of the U.S. financial capitalist elite, as Philip Agee’s writing made clear.

Nevertheless, The Determined Spy is valuable in chronicling Wisner’s nefarious worldwide activities and in shedding light on the social milieu in which he operated, known as the “Georgetown Set.” [...]

Head of CIA Cold War Propaganda Offensive Was An Ideological Zealot Who Got Countless People Killed in Futile Covert Operations - CovertAction Magazine Frank Wisner was a CIA legend from the early Cold War era who earned the nickname “the Mighty Wurlitzer” for his ability to supposedly orchestrate covert operations with the precision and intricacy of a symphony maestro. Wisner, however, got countless of his own agents killed running infiltratio...

The Central Intelligence Agency at Swan Island before, during, and after the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba

The CIA’s “Brief History of Radio Swan,” formerly classified SECRET EYES ONLY, begins with this paragraph:

"On 17 March 1960, President Eisenhower approved a covert action program to bring about the replacement of the Castro regime. Within the propaganda framework of that program, an important objective was to create and utilize a high-powered medium and short wave radio station. CIA was asked to provide such a station, outside the continental limits of the United States, and have it ready for operation within sixty (60) days."

It is clear from philatelic evidence that the agency had anticipated the president’s approval and had begun to implement that phase of the program before he had signed it. Amid abundant fanfare the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ship Explorer called at Swan Island on March 19.

Explorer had begun its journey on February 2 on the West Coast, taking hydrographic measurements, collecting rock samples, filming underwater features, and gathering other scientific data without attracting significant publicity. But that all changed when it reached the Panama Canal.

In preparation for its final survey mission at Swan Island, Captain Edmund L. Jones was sworn as an assistant postmaster. The February 25 Postal Bulletin listed the Explorer post office as a temporary branch of Washington, D.C. Collectors were invited to submit covers for cancellation at Swan Island; 5,000 pieces of philatelic mail were canceled there, including the Figure 1 cover. [...]

The Central Intelligence Agency at Swan Island before, during, and after the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba - CovertAction Magazine [This article continues CovertAction Magazine’s efforts to illuminate the history of the CIA.—Editors] The CIA’s “Brief History of Radio Swan,” formerly classified SECRET EYES ONLY, begins with this paragraph: "On 17 March 1960, President Eisenhower approved a covert action program to brin...

A Two-State Solution to Prevent a Forever War

On May 28, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) endorsed a Palestinian state, with the West Bank and Gaza to be connected physically.

As an advocate for peace, I do not agree that Israel must be defeated for Palestinians to achieve liberation. That is a forever war. It reminds me of the statement by Russell Means of the American Indian Movement: “For Indians to live, Europe must die.” That haunts me because we know who is doing the dying. I would also prefer a one-state solution but too many Jews and some Palestinian zealots do not want to integrate, especially now.

As an advocate for justice, I believe Jews have a historic connection to some of that territory, but not most of it. In 1933, Jews and non-Jews lived side-by-side in peace, with Jews comprising 20% of that population. That can be the goal again with a two-state solution. The non-Jewish farms and towns that were stolen by settlers must be returned. The Jewish state has a right to only 20% of the land based on historic and demographic justice.

Theocracy is also a problem. If people claim that a deity gives them the land, religion becomes blasphemy, ending in genocide. Their god becomes the devil. Atheism is better.

When I said at the Friday Montebello Lake sign-wave that the West Bank and Gaza could be united with “everything in between,” a comment was made: “That is all of Israel.” I beg to differ. If one looks at a map of Israel, most of the Jewish state is north and south of the West Bank and Gaza, not between. [...]

A Two-State Solution to Prevent a Forever War - CovertAction Magazine On May 28, Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) endorsed a Palestinian state, with the West Bank and Gaza to be connected physically. As an advocate for peace, I do not agree that Israel must be defeated for Palestinians to achieve liberation. That is a forever war. It reminds me of the statement by Russ...

Russian Spy Was Killed as Part of CIA-MI6 Psychological Warfare Operation Says Former Commander of French Anti-Terrorism Group

Operation Beluga Helped Condition the Public to Support the New Cold War

On November 1, 2006, a former Russian spy turned British MI6 agent, Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko, was poisoned with polonium while meeting with two alleged Russian agents, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, and an Italian security consultant, Mario Scaramella, at the bar of a hotel.

Litvinenko died 23 days later in a London hospital.

The U.S. media at the time reported that Litvinenko had made a death-bed accusation that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind his killing, though Litvinenko never in fact actually said that but was made to sign a form stating so in a state of incapacitation.[1]

A 2016 UK inquiry and 2021 European Court of Human Rights determined that Lugovoy and Kovtun killed Litvinenko, acting on behalf of the Russian intelligence services, and ordered Russia to pay Litvinenko's wife €100,000 in damages.

The Litvinenko case has been used to rally Western opinion against Vladimir Putin and Russia.

However, in 2016, Paul Baril, a former French counter-terrorism army unit commander and security adviser to French presidents Giscard D’Estaing and François Mitterrand, gave a YouTube interview that turns the official narrative of Litvinenko’s killing on its head.

Working at the time for a watchdog group that investigates global corruption, Baril said that Lugovoy and Kovtun were set up and that the CIA and British MI6 (British intelligence agency) were behind Litvinenko’s killing as part of Operation Beluga.

The latter’s purpose was to manipulate public opinion by making Putin look like he was a killer and to try to undermine the credibility of the Russian intelligence services and government as part of a broader plan to destabilize Russia.

The CIA and MI6 had both cultivated strong ties to right-wing Russian émigrés and Chechens living in London who supported Operation Beluga and the larger regime-change program of which it was part.

According to Baril, the masterminds who coordinated the killing were Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who invested part of his fortune in trying to unseat Putin after facing prosecution for white-collar crimes in Russia,[2] and Bill Browder, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who was convicted by a Russian court in absentia of tax evasion and whose company, Hermitage Capital Management[3], was involved in the manipulation of financial markets in Russia. [...]

Russian Spy Was Killed as Part of CIA-MI6 Psychological Warfare Operation Says Former Commander of French Anti-Terrorism Group - CovertAction Magazine Operation Beluga Helped Condition the Public to Support the New Cold War On November 1, 2006, a former Russian spy turned British MI6 agent, Alexander “Sasha” Litvinenko, was poisoned with polonium while meeting with two alleged Russian agents, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, and an Italian se...

Honduras Gate: The “Próspera” Island of Geopolitics, Foreign Interference, and Drug Trafficking

The island of Roatán is one of the most idyllic places in the Caribbean, with beautiful beaches, crystal-clear waters, and luxurious hotels. Although it belongs to Honduras, English is widely spoken there. In 2024, it was selected as one of the best places in the world by Time magazine and is home to the world’s second-largest coral reef. Soon, it will likely also host a U.S. military base.

Part of the island is already known as Próspera Island, and it has become a truly lawless paradise for billionaires—a kind of parallel, corporate, private mini-state operating outside the regulations that govern the rest of the country, in exchange for money. It is sheltered within what are known as Special Employment and Economic Development Zones (ZEDEs, by their Spanish acronym).

There are no labor rights, no authorization from the Honduran state is required to start a business, there are no bureaucratic delays to begin operations, taxes are minimal, and there is “total freedom.” While corporations in Honduras pay approximately 25% in income taxes, in Próspera that rate is reduced to 1%. Honduras has ceded legal, political and economic sovereignty over part of its territory. [...]

Honduras Gate: The “Próspera” Island of Geopolitics, Foreign Interference, and Drug Trafficking - CovertAction Magazine The island of Roatán is one of the most idyllic places in the Caribbean, with beautiful beaches, crystal-clear waters, and luxurious hotels. Although it belongs to Honduras, English is widely spoken there. In 2024, it was selected as one of the best places in the world by Time magazine and is home ...

CovertAction Bulletin - Sold Out: How Profit Undermines the World Cup and New York Basketball

The World Cup is starting on June 11th with matches across the United States, Mexico and Canada. 104 matches will be played, with the majority in the 11 venues across the US. But as this week’s openers get closer, chaos is spreading around visas, travel and the question of whether fans are even going to bother coming to the United States. Host cities like Kansas City, MO are relying on revenue from an increase in tourism to boost their local economies, with the city estimating 650,000 visitors over the next few weeks. Economists question whether the predictions on visitor count or economic impact will hold true as the Trump administration has instituted steep visa bonds for people from some countries, including Tunisia and Algeria, which will play in Kansas City.

At the same time, the U.S. government has already forced the Iranian team to stay in Mexico, despite having its three games in June scheduled for Los Angeles and Seattle—requiring the team to travel across the border on game day. Customs and Border Protection also just denied entry to the only Somali referee, Omar Artan.

Plus, we talk about Trump’s appearance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals and the NYPD’s response to a watch party in Bryant Park.

CovertAction Bulletin – Sold Out: How Profit Undermines the World Cup and New York Basketball - CovertAction Magazine The Trump administration is planning a series of grand patriotic events for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence...

One Gaza Flotilla Boat Made it to Gaza—in Pieces

Gaza Flotilla Boats Get Their Resilience from Palestinians

Gaza flotilla boats have become like Palestinians. They—like Palestinians—have been attacked, beaten, partially destroyed, and thrown to the four winds by a brutal, violent Israeli government.

Some of the 2026 Gaza flotilla boats were purposefully damaged so severely by Israeli military forces that they sank, like Palestinians who are under the genocidal rubble of endless criminal Israeli bombings.

After two brutal interceptions in international waters in April and May 2026, many resilient Gaza flotilla boats have been found floating in a variety of places around the Mediterranean, just as Palestinians as refugees are found all over the world.

Flotilla boats have been found adrift off the Turkish coast, some have been found off Crete, two have been found off Lebanon, one in Egypt and several have been found near Cyprus.

Palestinians Welcome a Flotilla Boat to Gaza

In an allegory to Palestinian history with Palestinian homes bombed into pieces by Israeli government violence, one flotilla boat, the KASR—Sadabad, found its way home to Gaza where it washed ashore at the beach Mawasi Khan Yunis… in pieces, where Palestinians lovingly welcomed the boat and pulled large pieces ashore. [...]

One Gaza Flotilla Boat Made it to Gaza—in Pieces - CovertAction Magazine Gaza Flotilla Boats Get Their Resilience from Palestinians Gaza flotilla boats have become like Palestinians. They—like Palestinians—have been attacked, beaten, partially destroyed, and thrown to the four winds by a brutal, violent Israeli government. Some of the 2026 Gaza flotilla boats were pu...

CIA Drug Pilot Claims to Have Flown JFK Assassins Into Dallas

In a February 1985 episode of the hit NBC television series Miami Vice, Eagles singer Glenn Frey played a swashbuckling CIA pilot, Jimmy Cole, who flies ace detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) to Colombia to conduct a drug deal.

Crockett and Tubbs had been recruited by the DEA to work undercover as drug smugglers to help bust cartel operatives.[1]

Frey’s character was loosely modeled after Robert “Tosh” Plumlee, a CIA pilot whose exploits over a 40-year career are detailed in a new memoir, Deep Cover, Shallow Graves, with Ralph Pezzullo.

Contrary to the depiction on Miami Vice, Plumlee’s memoir shows that the CIA often worked hand-in-glove with organized crime and was the one at times smuggling drugs into the U.S.

Plumlee claims that, on the morning John F. Kennedy was killed, he flew Johnny Roselli, a CIA-Mafia liaison, and other members of the assassination team into Dallas.

From Juvenile Delinquent to Covert Agent

Plumlee starts his story by noting that he was paid as a CIA pilot for years through cut-out companies like Riddle and Dodge Corporation and Atlantic Richfield, which had secret government contracts, or through fake “shell companies” like Intermountain Aviation and Mountain State Airlines.

That Plumlee and his colleagues did not know the overall mission was by design, since the world that he worked in was “deeply compartmentalized,” with no “HR” or “discernible structure.” Its hallmarks were “illusion, deception and sleight of hand.”[2]

Plumlee was recruited into this clandestine world at age 16, when he became part of an experimental army unit for juvenile delinquents attached to military intelligence at Fort Bliss, Texas, designated as Triple “A” Recon Training Command, Dog & 8 Company (AAA RTC D-8).

A product of a broken home who would routinely skip school, Plumlee’s father worked for Lockheed Aircraft at Dallas Love Field, a top secret military base where the B-17 bomber (known as the Flying Fortress) and P-38 Lightining were built. [...]

CIA Drug Pilot Claims to Have Flown JFK Assassins Into Dallas - CovertAction Magazine In a February 1985 episode of the hit NBC television series Miami Vice, Eagles singer Glenn Frey played a swashbuckling CIA pilot, Jimmy Cole, who flies ace detective Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Rafael Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) to Colombia to conduct a drug deal. Crockett and Tubbs had been...