[Spooks] Castro Offers Former Russian Spy Base to China

[William Knowles]

http://www.insightmag.com/news/254144.html

Posted May 30, 2002
By J. Michael Waller 

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has offered the sprawling Soviet-built
electronic intelligence-gathering base near Lourdes, Cuba, to the
Chinese government for operations against the United States, the
Russian newspaper Izvestia reports.

Last October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would
shut down the 26 square-mile facility, the largest outside the former
USSR. But Castro, citing Moscow's unpaid debts to his regime,
reportedly seized some of the eavesdropping technology the Russians
were readying to ship back home.

Only about two-dozen Russian intelligence officers and technicians
remain at the Lourdes base, where they are serving as caretakers until
both sides can reach an agreement on shutting down the facility. Until
recently, Moscow had about a thousand personnel at the site.

According to Izvestia, "Castro's officer to China to utilize Lourdes
has been positively received by Beijing. Last autumn, a Chinese
military delegation visited Cuba. The possibility of operating an
electronic espionage center was discussed with Castro during the
visit. According to sources, China responded positively in principle
to the offer and, in fact, the Chinese have been offered a set of
buildings in the Lourdes complex upon the final departure of the
Russians."



*==============================================================*
"Communications without intelligence is noise;  Intelligence
without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
================================================================
C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org
*==============================================================*