But along with parts, other commodities began being shipped as well. Since one of the destinations of these small companies was Medellà n, Colombia, a new product was added to the trading list, cocaine. A ring eventually formed whereby certain agents would go to Colombia, perform the usual transactions for spare parts, and return. Only the return trip would include an item not found on the manifest.
Soon, shipments were flying in direct from Medellà n, dropping off the illegal merchandise, and groups on the ground would quickly deposit this same into waiting boats headed for the US. When the smuggling ring was finally uncovered, it was the Revolutionary Council's decision to make an example of these criminals for all the islanders to see.
In June, 1989, during trial #1, Hero of the Revolution, three-star General Ochoa, along with co-conspirators Colonel Tony de la Guardia, Captain Jorge Martinez, and Major Amado Padrà ³n, were found guilty of corruption and drug trafficking and were sentenced to death. Other, lesser figures, were given harsh prison terms. On July 9, the Council of State ratified the decision, and on July 13, all four men faced the firing squad and were executed. In trial #2, held at the same time, Minister of the Interior Josà © Abrantes and several others were also found guilty of the same charges and were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
The message from the Cuban government couldn't have been clearer. Corruption and drug trafficking, two rather common crimes throughout the hemisphere, were not to be tolerated at all on the island, and those who are found guilty would receive the severest of all punishments up to and including the death penalty itself. Cuba may have many problems with its giant neighbor to the north, but it will never be found guilty of collusion in any corruption or drug trafficking crimes committed by anyone anywhere. No more obvious line in the sand could have been drawn.
Cuba's revolution has come to mean much more than just the overthrow of a puppet dictator who ruled over a puny island of sugar cane plantations and cigar fields. It has transcended that early, raw definition of a mere Socialist state, Soviet puppet state, or wayward, dictator cult state. As the pressure of the US embargo, the illegal assassination attempts, the illegal invasions, the illegal use of biological and chemical agents on the crops and waters of the island, as well as the illegal terrorism by American agents who blew up markets, offices and other places, rolled on year after year, the resistance of the Cuban government and the resilience of the Cuban people started to take on more mythic proportions.
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