Antonio Veciana

Antonio Veciana Blanch (born 1928) is a Cuban exile who was head of Alpha 66 and involved in several assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. He is the father of journalist Ana Veciana-Suarez.[1]

Career

At the time of the 1959 Cuban Revolution Veciana was employed as an accountant by Julio Lobo, and well known as the President of the professional accountants' association.[2] From mid-1960 until mid-1973 Veciana was involved in anti-Fidel Castro activities under the direction of an American named "Maurice Bishop".[2] After the initial contact with Bishop, Veciana took a 2-3 week course in psychological warfare and sabotage.[2] After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961, Bishop directed Veciana to help organise an assassination attempt on Castro in Havana from an apartment rented in the name of Veciana's mother-in-law. Veciana left Cuba the day before the October 1961 attempt, his wife and children having already left some months earlier.[2] The attempt, which involved a bazooka, failed.[3]

Veciana settled in Miami with his family, and after Bishop contacted him there, at Bishop's direction Veciana founded Alpha 66 in mid-1962,[2] becoming its civilian chief and principal fundraiser, and recruiting its military chief from another Cuban exile organization.[2] Alpha 66 became one of the most active Cuban exile groups, acquiring guns and boats and launching commando raids on Cuba.[2]

From August 1968 to June 1972 Veciana was active in Bolivia. Formally a banking adviser to the Central Bank of Bolivia on contracts financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, his office was located in the passport division of the American Embassy, and his primary activity was organising anti-Communist and anti-Castro activities. This included another assassination attempt on Castro in Chile in 1971[2] involving a plan to put a gun inside a television camera.[4] Veciana's recruiting of Cuban associates who prepared a plan to blame Russian agents for the assassination led to a falling-out with Bishop and the eventual termination of their relationship. When Bishop broke off the relationship in 1973, he paid Veciana $253,000 in recognition of his services; Veciana had previously refused payment.[2]

In 1974 Veciana was convicted of conspiracy to supply narcotics;[5] he served 27 months, still professing his innocence after his release.[2]

In 1976 Veciana told the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) that at one meeting with Bishop in Dallas in late-August or September 1963 he had arrived to see Bishop talking with Lee Harvey Oswald.[2] Veciana said that several months after the assassination Bishop had offered to pay a relative of Veciana who worked in the Cuban Intelligence Directorate in Mexico City to say publicly that he had met Oswald there.[6]

In September 1979 Veciana survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot in the head.[4]

Veciana was briefly employed as treasurer by Maurice Ferré's 2004 campaign for mayor of Miami-Dade. He resigned after a few days, as he did not meet the state requirement of being a registered voter.[7]

In 2013 Veciana gave interviews saying that he believed that the assassination of John F. Kennedy was carried out by senior military and intelligence officials.[8][9]

References

  1. ↑ Jay Weaver, Miami Herald, 19 January 2006, Herald writer pleads guilty to 2003 contempt charge
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 HSCA, Volume X, pp. 37-56
  3. ↑ Jay Mallin, The Miami News, 23 November 1961, A BAZOOKA DIDN'T FIRE IN HAVANA AND CASTRO TALKED ON
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dan Williams, Miami Herald, 22 September 1979, Anti-Castro Leader Shot In the Head
  5. ↑ United States vs. Ariel Pomares and Antonio Veciana (Docket 74-1219, Decided July 5, 1974)
  6. ↑ The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) on Antonio Veciana Blanch and "Maurice Bishop"
  7. ↑ Noaki Schwartz, Miami Herald, 2 June 2005, Audit: Ferré camp broke the law
  8. ↑ Alfonso Chardy, El Nuevo Heraldo, 17 November 2013, La conexión cubana en el asesinato de JFK
  9. ↑ Iliana Lavastida, Diario Las Américas, "A Kennedy lo mató la CIA", asegura un exagente de la CIA, November 2013

External links