Leyla Express and Johnny Express incidents

Last updated

In December 1971, the freighters Leyla Express and Johnny Express were seized by Cuban gunboats. The Leyla Express was stopped in international waters off the Cuban coast on December 5; the Johnny Express was intercepted by gunboats near the island of Little Inagua in the Bahamas ten days later. Some of the crew of the Johnny Express, including the captain, were injured when the gunboats fired on their vessel. The freighters both carried Panamanian flags of convenience, but belonged to the Bahama Lines corporation, based in Miami. The company was run by four brothers, Cuban exiles who had previously been involved in activities directed against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Cuba stated that both vessels were being used by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transport weapons, explosives, and personnel to Cuba, and described the vessels as being engaged in piracy. Cuba had suspected the involvement of one of Bahama Lines's ships in shelling the Cuban village of Samá, on the northern coast of Oriente Province, a few months previously; several civilians had died in the attack. The US government of Richard Nixon and the Bahama Lines denied the accusations.

Contents

Cuba released the crew of both ships to Panamanian custody, but announced that José Villa, the captain of the Johnny Express, had confessed to being an agent of the CIA, and would face trial. The US asked the Panamanian government of Omar Torrijos to negotiate his release. Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt and Manuel Noriega traveled to Cuba, where they negotiated Villa's release into Panamanian custody, in return for which criminal charges were brought against Villa in Panama, though he was released without being convicted. The success of the negotiations undertaken by Noriega were later used by him to bargain with the US government. As a consequence of the incident, the US ordered all its naval and air forces in the region to go to the aid of any ships coming under attack from Cuban vessels. A Panamanian mission which investigated the incident concluded, based on the ships' logs, that the vessels had in fact brought insurgent forces to Cuban territory, and that the Cuban government's accusations on that count were accurate.

Background

The Cuban government of Fidel Castro was the target of attacks from Cuban exiles. Fidel Castro - MATS Terminal Washington 1959 (cropped).png
The Cuban government of Fidel Castro was the target of attacks from Cuban exiles.

The Johnny Express and the Leyla Express [lower-alpha 1] were two Miami-based freighters flying Panamanian flags of convenience. [4] They were owned by the Bahama Lines corporation, based in Miami, which also ran four other freighters. The corporation was owned by four brothers from the Babún family: all four were Cuban exiles. [1] The Miami Herald reported that all four had been involved in activities directed against the government of Fidel Castro, [5] while the New York Times wrote that the brothers were opposed to the Cuban government, and had aided actions against it. [1] Among Cuban exiles in Miami, Santiago Babún, one of the brothers, was believed to have been an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) while in Cuba. [5] According to reporter John Dinges both freighters were being used by Cuban exiles to launch machine-gun attacks on Cuban government targets. [4] In discussing the relationship between former Director of Central Intelligence and US President George H. W. Bush and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in a 1997 biography of Bush, historian Herbert Parmet stated that the two freighters had been used to launch speed-boat attacks against Cuba. [6]

The Cuban government believed that a boat owned by one of the brothers was responsible for shelling the Cuban village of Samá, on the northern coast of Oriente Province, in October 1971; several people were reported to have been killed in the attack. [1] Cuban radio stations had reported that the attackers had fled on a "mother ship". [7] On October 15 the Miami News reported that a spokesperson for José Elias de la Torriente, a Cuban exile, had claimed responsibility for the attack at Sama. The spokesperson said that the attack had been against a military base, and that it was "just the beginning" of their plans to fight the Cuban government. [7] According to the New York Times, information available to it suggested that vessels owned by the Babún brothers did not participate in the raid on Samá. [1] Several months before December 1971, the Bahama Lines were reported to have complained to the US government that their ships were being followed by Cuban vessels. [5] The company stated that the US Coast Guard had been notified of every incident, but that the Coast Guard had not taken any action. [8]

Vessel seizures

On December 5, 1971, the Leyla Express was stopped by Cuban government vessels in international waters off the coast of Cuba, [3] and escorted to the port of Baracoa. The Cuban government stated that the ship was being used to transport weapons and agents by the CIA, and added that the Leyla Express had been used to land explosives, men, and weapons on Cuban shores three times in 1968 and 1969. [5] The Cuban government called the vessel a pirate ship, and said that the 14 members of the freighter's crew would face criminal charges. [3] [5] [9]

A map showing the islands of Little and Great Inagua in the Bahamas. The coasts of Cuba and the US state of Florida are also visible. Inagua in Bahamas (zoom).svg
A map showing the islands of Little and Great Inagua in the Bahamas. The coasts of Cuba and the US state of Florida are also visible.

On December 15, 1971, the Johnny Express was attacked by a Cuban gunboat, seized, and taken to a Cuban port. The attack occurred in the territorial waters of the Bahamas, near the island of Little Inagua. [3] [5] According to officials of the Bahama Lines, the freighter had left Port-au-Prince in Haiti the previous day. At the time of its capture, the Johnny Express was approximately 120 miles (190 km) from the Cuban coast. The 235 ft (72 m) ship was carrying a crew of 11: its captain, José Villa, was naturalized US citizen who had left Cuba as an exile. [lower-alpha 2] [2] [5] [8]

The Miami Herald reported that Villa had an approximately three-hour-long conversation on the radio with the office of the Bahama Lines, beginning at approximately 11:35 am on December 15, when Villa radioed saying he was being followed by a gunboat, in response to which he had changed course northwards. He then reported that he had been ordered to heave to; the company stated that it had asked Villa to continue on his way, because he was in international waters. [5] At 1:31 pm, Villa reported that the gunboat had opened fire, and that he himself had been wounded, [5] adding that the "deck [was] covered in blood". [11] The New York Times later reported that Villa's wounds were serious. [12] Further reports of firing followed, including of shots fired at the radio antenna, and of the gunboat ramming the freighter. The final report, at 2:40 pm, stated that the freighter was taking on water. [5] According to the US Coast Guard, the strafing was carried out with a machine gun. [8] A later report, attributed to the US State Department, stated that the Johnny Express was being towed to Cuba: [5] a January 1972 report in the Miami News stated that the ship had been escorted to Baracoa, rather than towed. [13] The wounded crew members were transported by the Cuban gunboat to Havana for treatment. [14]

Reactions, negotiations and trials

The Cuban government described the actions of both freighters as acts of piracy. [3] It stated that it would attack pirate ships regardless of the distance of the ship from Cuba, or the flag the ship was carrying. [1] Castro criticized the "landing of weapons, organization of mercenary bands, infiltration of spies, saboteurs, [and] arm drops of all kinds," and stated that the Cuban government had been forced to spend "fabulous sums" of money and resources to combat these efforts. [9] Castro stated that both ships had been used in operations to Cuba from 1968 to 1970. He also claimed that Villa had confessed to being a CIA agent and to participating in operations against Cuba from 1964 to 1966, but did not accuse Villa of covert operations about the Johnny Express. [10] Castro stated that a different freighter, the Akuarias II, also registered in Panama, had taken part in the raid on Sama. He said that the capture of the Leyla Express and the Johnny Express had been provoked by the Sama raid, and that they "served notice" to the US government that it needed to stop such raids. [10]

Teófilo Babún, one of the owners of the Bahama Lines, denied that the ships were engaged in piracy, and stated that they were commercial vessels that did not carry any weapons. [1] [5] The Babún brothers stated that the Johnny Express was on its way back from Haiti, where she had been chartered, when the ship was attacked. [15] A spokesperson for the US Department of State also said that the vessels had no connection to the US government, [1] [5] and that they were not transporting weapons and personnel to Cuba. [15] A day after the capture of the Johnny Express, the US government responded stating that it would take "all measures under international law" to protect ships in the Caribbean, including those of other nations, from Cuban attacks. [1] The New York Times reported that the US naval and air forces in the Caribbean had been ordered to support any vessel attacked by Cuba. [1] Soon after the capture of the Johnny Express, the US federal government impounded the Akuarias II in Florida. [10] Cuban exile leaders were summoned by Matthew Smith, Cuban Affairs coordinator in Miami for the State Department, and told the US government would strictly enforce its policy against raids on Cuba by Cuban exiles in the US. [10]

Manuel Noriega in 1989. Noriega played a crucial role in the negotiations for the release of Jose Villa. Manuel Noriega mugshot cropped.jpg
Manuel Noriega in 1989. Noriega played a crucial role in the negotiations for the release of José Villa.

US President Richard Nixon told José Villa's wife Isabel that he would do his best to get her husband released. The US issued a demand to Cuba, via the Swiss embassy in Havana, that Villa be released; Cuba did not respond to the request. [1] In late December, the Panamanian government accepted a Cuban invitation to send a delegation to investigate and discuss the incident. [16] [17] Cuba and Panama did not have diplomatic relations at the time. [18] The three-person delegation arrived in Havana on December 25. It was led by Jorge Illeuca, a legal advisor to the Panamanian foreign ministry. Its other members were Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt, then the rector of the University of Panama, and Arlos Gonzales de Lastra, described as an expert on the merchant navy. [16] [17] Following negotiations, most members of the crews of both ships, numbering more than twenty individuals, were handed over to the government of Panama on December 27, 1971. [19] Upon his return to the US, one of the released crewman stated that Cuban interrogators had tried to scare the crew into admitting they had participated in transporting weapons or men to Cuba. [20]

José Villa remained in Cuban custody: he faced trial, having confessed, according to the Cuban government, to being an agent of the CIA. A few other crewmen, who were nationals or former residents of Cuba, were held with Villa. [3] [9] [10] [13] Illeuca stated that Villa and two others detained in Cuba, Jose Torres and Pablo Gari, had confessed to participating in covert operations. [21] A report for United Press International called Villa a "virtual political hostage". [10] The US government asked Omar Torrijos, the leader of Panama, to send a mission to Cuba to mediate the conflict. [18] According to Dinges, at approximately the same time, the CIA station in Panama City was ordered to send Manuel Noriega on the mission as a personal emissary of Torrijos. Noriega's relationship with the US intelligence services, which had been on a case-by-case basis until then, was regularized in mid-1970, soon after Noriega was promoted to lieutenant colonel and received command of the intelligence branch of the Panamanian Natioanal Guard. [22]

The formal mission to Cuba was led by Bethancourt, a communist member of Torrijos's government, but Noriega accompanied him. [18] According to William Jorden, a US diplomat and National Security Council aide who was later the country's ambassador to Panama, was Noriega's presence which convinced Cuban leader Fidel Castro to release Villa into Panamanian custody. [18] [14] Parmet wrote that Noriega played an "important, possibly decisive," role in the negotiations. [6] During the negotiations, a "growing affinity" was reported between the two governments. [23] Villa was taken to Panama in February 1973, [24] where in accordance with the agreement with Castro, charges of espionage were brought against Villa. [18] Villa's wife was able to visit him in Panama. [14] In October 1973 Villa was convicted in a Panamanian court of carrying out operations against Cuba using a Panamanian vessel. Villa denied the charges. The court stated that he had admitted participating in three "counterrevolutionary incursions" against Cuba, on ships with other captains. Crewmembers of the Johnny Express testified to its use in operations against Cuba. [25] Villa was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, but was freed immediately as he had already been detained for a longer period. [25] Villa returned to Miami in the same month, after 14 months in prison in Cuba and another eight in Panama. [19] The delay before his release and return to the US was described by Dinges as being long enough to "save face all around". [18]

Gari was released in September 1972, and flown to Panama. [23] Under an agreement signed in December 1972, Cuba handed over the two freighters to Panama, which undertook to keep them Panamania government property and not return them to their owners in Miami: the ships reached Panama in April 1973. [26] [27] Torres was sentenced and jailed for three years in Cuba, and was released from prison in December 1974: his ability to return to the US was reported to be unclear. [28] A final crewmember was reported to likely have died while imprisoned in Cuba. [26]

Investigation and impact

The commission from Panama led by Illeuca submitted its report to the Panamanian government at the end of December 1971. [29] Based on examinations of the ships' log books, the commission concluded that the ships had in fact been engaged in bringing insurgent forces to Cuban territory, and that the Cuban government's claims on that count were accurate. [3] [30] Shortly after the commission submitted its report, Panamanian government sources stated that the ships had participated in attacks against Cuba in 1968 and 1969. [29] A case study of the incident in the US armed forces journal The JAG Journal stated that the reported violent actions of the armed personnel carried by the Leyla Express and the Johnny Express met the definition for piracy. However, it stated that since the actions of the two ships had the objective of overthrowing the Cuban government, they constituted political actions, and therefore could not be considered acts of piracy. [3] [31] The negotiations carried out by Manuel Noriega were the most substantial assistance he had given the US government up to that point; he and Torrijos would use the success of the mission as a bargaining chip in subsequent negotiations with the US. [18] Jorden noted that Noriega was introduced to Castro at the behest of the US, [14] a fact Dinges described as ironic; Noriega would have prolonged relations with Castro's government, including sharing intelligence with it. [32] In April 1972, as a consequence of the Johnny Express incident, the US ordered all of its warships in the Caribbean region to assist ships from any country friendly to the US, should they come under attack from Cuban ships. [2] [12]

Related Research Articles

Manuel Noriega Former Panamanian military head of state (1934–2017)

Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno was a Panamanian politician and military officer who was the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal fortune through drug trafficking operations, he had longstanding ties to United States intelligence agencies before the U.S. invasion of Panama removed him from power.

Bay of Pigs Invasion Failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba, April 1961

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. Covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government, the operation took place at the height of the Cold War, and its failure led to major shifts in international relations between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

United States invasion of Panama 1989 United States military invasion of Panama

The United States Invasion of Panama, codenamed Operation Just Cause, lasted over a month between mid-December 1989 and late January 1990. It occurred during the administration of President George H. W. Bush and ten years after the Torrijos–Carter Treaties were ratified to transfer control of the Panama Canal from the U.S. to Panama by January 1, 2000. The primary purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto Panamanian leader, general and dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega, who for a long time worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was wanted by the United States for racketeering and drug trafficking. Following the operation, the Panama Defense Forces were dissolved and President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office. The United Nations General Assembly and the Organization of American States condemned the invasion as a violation of international law.

Mireya Moscoso 34th President of Panama (1999–2004)

Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first female president.

Orlando Bosch Cuban exile militant

Orlando Bosch Ávila was a Cuban exile militant, who headed the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations (CORU), described by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation as a terrorist organization. Born in Cuba, Bosch attended medical school at the University of Havana, where he befriended Fidel Castro. He worked as a doctor in Santa Clara Province in the 1950s, but moved to Miami in 1960 after he stopped supporting the Cuban Revolution.

This timeline of United States government military operations, based in part on reports by the Congressional Research Service, shows the years and places in which U.S. military units participated in armed conflicts or occupation of foreign territories. Items in bold are wars most often considered to be major conflicts by historians and the general public.

Operation Mongoose US terrorism & sabotage campaign in Cuba

The Cuban Project, also known as Operation Mongoose, was an extensive campaign of terrorist attacks against civilians, and covert operations, carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Cuba. It was officially authorized on November 30, 1961 by American President Kennedy. The name Operation Mongoose had been agreed at a prior White House meeting on November 4, 1961. The operation was run out of JM/WAVE, a major secret United States covert operations and intelligence gathering station established a year earlier in Miami, Florida, and led by United States Air Force General Edward Lansdale on the military side and William King Harvey at the CIA and went into effect after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Luis Posada Carriles Cuban terrorist and CIA agent

Luis Clemente Posada Carriles was a Cuban exile militant and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent. He was considered a terrorist by the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Government of Cuba, among others.

SS <i>Yarmouth Castle</i> American steamship lost in a disastrous fire

SS Yarmouth Castle, built as Evangeline, was an American steamship whose loss in a disastrous fire in 1965 prompted new laws regarding safety at sea.

Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino

Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino is a Panamanian politician, served as its President from 11 October 1984 to 28 September 1985, running as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) in the contested elections of 1984.

The Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations was a militant group responsible for a number of terrorist activities directed at the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. It was founded by a group that included Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, both of whom worked with CIA at various times, and was composed chiefly of Cuban exiles opposed to the Castro government. It was formed in 1976 as an umbrella group for a number of anti-Castro militant groups. Its activities including a number of bombings and assassinations, including the killing of human-rights activist Orlando Letelier in Washington, D.C., and the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 which killed 73 people.

<i>La Coubre</i> explosion 1960 deadly explosion of a French cargo ship in Havana, Cuba

The French freighter La Coubre exploded in the harbour of Havana, Cuba, on 4 March 1960 while it was unloading 76 tons of grenades and munitions. Casualties may have been as high as 100, and many more were injured. Fidel Castro charged it was an act of sabotage on the part of the United States, which denied any involvement.

La Prensa is a conservative Panamanian newspaper founded in 1980. Established by I. Roberto Eisenmann Jr. during a period military dictatorship, Prensa built an international reputation as an independent nationalist voice, and has been described by some admirers as "Panama's leading opposition newspaper" and its newspaper of record.

Teo A. Babun

Teo A. Babun is a Cuban-American businessman and evangelical philanthropist. He is the founder of BG Consultants and Cuba-Caribbean Development Co. and also the head of Outreach Aid to the Americas (OAA) and AmericasRelief.

Cuban thaw Normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba from 2015 to 2017

The Cuban thaw was the warming of Cuba–United States relations that began in December 2014 ending a 54-year stretch of hostility between the nations. In March 2016, Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge, in 1928.

The Panama Truth Commission was appointed by Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso in 2000 to investigate crimes committed under the military rule of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega.

Gaspar Jiménez Escobedo was a Cuban exile living in Miami. An associate of Luis Posada Carriles, he was convicted of attempting to kidnap a Cuban consul in Mexico in 1976, for which he served 27 months in prison. He was also convicted of attempting to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro in Panama in 2000, and was jailed until 2004 when he was pardoned by outgoing Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso.

Jaime Guillot Lara was a Colombian drug and weapons smuggler, and international underworld facilitator, indicted for his involvement in the trafficking of 2.5 million pounds of marijuana, 25 million methaqualone tablets, and 80 pounds of cocaine to the United States between 1977 and 1981.

Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt was a Panamanian politician and diplomat. He was known for his role in negotiating the Panama Canal treaties in 1977.

Ricardo Morales Navarette, also known by the moniker "El Mono", was a Cuban exile and agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. He also worked for the DISIP, or Venezuelan intelligence service, and as an informant for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, and Drug Enforcement Administration.

References

  1. ↑ Also described as the Lyle Express, [1] the Lalia Express, [2] and the Lyla Express. [3]
  2. ↑ Villa is variously described in news reports as Cuban-born or Spanish-born. [10] [5]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Szulc, Tad (December 18, 1971). "US Warns Cuba on Ship Attacks". The New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Petrie, John N. (December 1996). American Neutrality in the 20th Century: The Impossible Dream. DIANE Publishing. pp. 111–112. ISBN   978-0-7881-3682-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Behuniak, Thomas E. (Fall 1978). "The Seizure and Recovery of the S.S. Mayaguez: A Legal Analysis of United States Claims, Part 1" (PDF). Military Law Review. 82: 98–100. Retrieved May 28, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Dinges 1990, p. 69.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Montalbano, William (December 16, 1971). "Cuban Boat Fires on, Rams Miami Ship, Captain Radios". Miami Herald . Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  6. 1 2 Parmet 1997, pp. 202–203.
  7. 1 2 Inclan, Hilda (October 15, 1971). "Exiles declare raid "just the beginning"". The Miami News. p. 8.
  8. 1 2 3 "Freighter Is Reported Attacked And Seized by Cuban Gunboat". The New York Times. Associated Press. December 16, 1971. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 Franklin 2016, p. 98.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McReynolds, Martin (February 13, 1972). "Johnny Express: Pirate At Bay?". The Atlanta Constitution.
  11. ↑ Gehring 1973, p. 317.
  12. 1 2 Welles, Benjamin (April 14, 1972). "Nixon Gave Navy Power To Halt Cuba's Seizures". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  13. 1 2 "Chief Engineer of the Johnny Express tells of ship's capture by Cuba". The Miami News. January 5, 1972. p. 15.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Jorden 2014, p. 257.
  15. 1 2 Gehring 1973, p. 318.
  16. 1 2 "Panama to Start Talks in Havana on Seized Ships". The Los Angeles Times. December 26, 1971. p. 46.
  17. 1 2 "Panama to Investigate Cuba's Ship Seizures". The Miami Herald. December 25, 1971. p. 69.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dinges 1990, p. 70.
  19. 1 2 "Jose Villa Family Reunited". The Miami News. October 31, 1973. p. 1.
  20. ↑ "Crewman Recalls Capture". The Tampa Tribune. April 13, 1972. p. 23.
  21. ↑ "Aide Claims Three Crewmen Anti-Castro". The Troy Record. December 29, 1971. p. 12.
  22. ↑ Dinges 1990, pp. 49–52, 69–70.
  23. 1 2 "Miami-Based Ship's 1st Mate in Panama After Cuba Release". The Miami Herald. September 7, 1972. p. 201.
  24. ↑ "Johnny Express Skipper is "Well"". The Miami Herald. March 4, 1973. p. 283.
  25. 1 2 "Judge Frees Master of the Johnny Express". Fort Lauderdale News. October 31, 1973. p. 28.
  26. 1 2 "Cuba Surrenders 2 Ships". The Miami News. December 20, 1972. p. 5.
  27. ↑ "Cuba-Seized Miami Ships in Panama". The Orlando Sentinel. April 26, 1973. p. 29.
  28. ↑ Cruz, Humberto (December 27, 1974). "Prisoner Freed: Can he Return?". The Miami News. p. 5.
  29. 1 2 "2 Seized Ships Attacked Cuba". The San Francisco Examiner. December 31, 1971. p. 8.
  30. ↑ Gehring 1973, p. 324.
  31. ↑ Gehring 1973, p. 347.
  32. ↑ Dinges 1990, pp. 70–71, 312.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.