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Cuba confirms arms bound for North Korea on ship seized in Panama

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My new solution is to empty our prisons and big cities of gang-bangers and export them to places like Cuba and Honduras.
Trade them for their good people.

Turn these countries into "Escape from New York" types of communities .
He also just keeps updating threads even if nobody responds. You can find entire threads with just Sandokan posts.
 
The North Korea Ambassador to the Castroit tyrannical regime has been confirmed killed by the tyrant Kim Jong Un. Jon Yong participated in the meeting with Raul Castro and Kim Kyok in July 2013. It is evident that the Castroit regime and the North Korea dictatorship, in typical totalitarian style, decided to take out of circulation those involved in the North Korean Chong Chon Gang ship weapons smuggling. Obviously a reward for the diplomatic failure to conceal the weapons smuggling.
 
Panama Court Frees Captain of Seized N Korea Ship
International News | World News - ABC News

PANAMA CITY — Jun 27, 2014, 10:54 PM ET

A Panamanian judge absolved the captain and two other officers of charges stemming from the seizure of a North Korean ship last July for carrying undeclared military equipment from Cuba, a court statement said Friday.

The court in Colon ruled that the weapons and other equipment should be turned over to Panamanian authorities.

The court ordered the three crewmen of the Chong Chon Gang freed, saying the issue of whether the ship violated a U.N. arms embargo against North Korea was not a matter for Panama to decide.

The ship's other 32 sailors were allowed to sail the vessel back to North Korea in February after the owner paid a $700,000 fine.

The ship was stopped as it tried to enter the Panama Canal and was found to hold two Cuban fighter jets and other military equipment hidden under tons of sugar. U.N. experts determined the ship had violated U.N. sanctions against North Korea.
Seems that the Chong Chon Gang arms-smuggling incident will not had strong repercussions for the tyrannical Castroit and North Korea regimes. So far the U.N. has not taken any measures for the violation of its sanctions against the arms smuggling by both regimes.
 
Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart Lead Letter to Ambassador Power Urging U.S. Mission at U.N. to Press Security Council to Place Cuban Regime Officials Connected to Chong Chon Gang Incident On Sanctions Violators List
Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart Lead Letter to Ambassador Power Urging U.S. Mission at U.N. to Press Security Council to Place Cuban Regime Officials Connected to Chong Chon Gang Incident On Sanctions Violators List | Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

July 25, 2014

“While it is no surprise that the tyrannical Castro regime continues to ignore U.N. resolutions, to give Havana a free pass would send a dangerous signal to other countries. When an individual or entity assists the North Korean regime in an effort to circumvent multiple U.N. resolutions, we must ensure they are held to account for putting our collective safety in jeopardy.”

Washington, DC – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart led a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power. The letter asks that Power submit for designation the names of Cuban military officials who were involved in the Chong Chon Gang incident, where a North Korean ship was found to have been carrying Cuban-origin weapons from a Cuban port destined for North Korea, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions 1718, 1874, and 2094. Ros-Lehtinen and Díaz-Balart were joined by Reps. Albio Sires (D-NJ), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), and Sean Duffy (R-WI).

Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“Now that the Panel of Experts has confirmed that the Cuban regime assisted North Korea in violating the terms of several U.N. Security Council resolutions, we must take immediate action against the individuals who participated in the Chong Chon Gang incident. Leaving this sort of flagrant violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions unanswered raises serious questions about the international community’s ability to police itself when rogue regimes flout the rules.

“Ambassador Power must do everything possible to submit names of those Cuban regime and military officials involved in the Chong Chon Gang incident as U.N. sanctions violators. While it is no surprise that the tyrannical Castro regime continues to ignore U.N. resolutions, to give Havana a free pass would send a dangerous signal to other countries. When an individual or entity assists the North Korean regime in an effort to circumvent multiple U.N. resolutions, we must ensure they are held to account for putting our collective safety in jeopardy.”
Very nice of them for trying, but I don’t think the U.S. can get the UN to hold them accountable
 
Cuba escapes UN sanctions in North Korean weapons transport scheme
Cuba escapes UN sanctions in North Korean weapons transport scheme - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com

But it puts a North Korea ship-operating company on its sanctions list.

By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com
July 29, 2014

The United Nations has sanctioned a North Korean shipping company but spared Cuban entities in connection with a Cuban weapons shipment seized aboard a Pyongyang-bound freighter in violation of a U.N. arms embargo.

Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd., a North Korean company that managed the freighter Chong Chon Gang when it was seized in Panama last summer, was added Monday to the list of violators of the embargo.

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) committee that enforces the embargo said the company “played a key role in arranging the shipment of concealed cargo of arms and related materiel from Cuba.” Inclusion in the list carries banking and travel sanctions.
But the committee did not add to the list any of the Cuban enterprises or individuals involved in the shipment of 240 tons of Cuban MiG jet engines, anti-aircraft missile systems and munitions found aboard the Chong Chon Gang.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said in a statement that there were “irrefutable facts that clearly prove Cuba and (North Korea’s) intentions to violate sanctions by employing highly sophisticated deception and obfuscation techniques.”

“The United States remains concerned about attempts by North Korea to circumvent international sanctions, and strongly condemns any efforts by nations such as Cuba to assist in the illegal evasion” of the arms embargo, Power added.

Powell did not explain why no Cuban entities were added to the sanctions list, and her press office did not reply to El Nuevo Herald’s requests for comment.

Latin American diplomats at the U.N. had predicted earlier this year that Cuba would escape sanctions because Russia and China, which have vetoes on the Security Council , are close allies of Cuba.

“It’s unacceptable that even as the (UNSC) sanctioned the North Korean firm that operated the vessel carrying illegal arms from Cuba, it failed to similarly hold the Cuban regime accountable for its role in this flagrant violation of U.N. sanctions,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement Tuesday.
All companies in North Korea are controlled by the regime. Funny that the UN sanction the ship-operating company that transports the weapons and not the regime. If the company transporting the weapons is at fault the regime that sent them is also at fault.
 
The Castroit tyrannical regime knows that the consequence for violating the UN arms embargo are practically nil. This will encourage the Castroit regime to continue doing it. This same UN gave the Castroit regime a seat on the Human Rights Commission, unbelievable.
 
U.S. sanctions North Korean companies on Cuba weapons case
U.S. sanctions North Korean companies on Cuba weapons case | The Miami Herald

By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned two North Korean companies and 18 cargo ships for a shipment of Cuban weapons that violated a U.N. arms embargo on Pyongyang, and barely mentioned Cuba’s role in the case.

Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd., the Chongchongang Shipping Company and the freighter were put on a list that subjects them to seizures of their bank accounts and forbids U.S. entities from doing business with them.

A Treasury statement said the sanctions were sparked by the case of the Chong Chon Gang, a North Korean freighter intercepted in Panama last summer and found to be carrying 240 tons of Cuban weapons to Pyongyang.

The 1,100-word statement mentioned Cuba only once, to note that the weapons were going “from Cuba to the DPRK” — Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the official name of North Korea.

“How about sanctioning the owners of the Cuban weapons that were being smuggled … or how about sanctioning the Cuban officials that made the deal” with North Korea, wrote Mauricio Claver-Carone in his blog, Capitol Hill Cubans.

A knowledgeable Washington official noted that perhaps Treasury did not feel it was necessary to sanction Cuban government entities and individuals because they already are under strong sanctions from the U.S. trade embargo.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday added Ocean Maritime Management Company to its list of violators of the U.N. arms embargo on Pyongyang, which exposed the North Korean company to banking and travel sanctions.

Cuba argued that it did not violate the embargo, which bans the “transfer” of weapons, because the “obsolete” weapons aboard the Chong Chon Gang were being sent to North Korea to be repaired and then returned.

A panel of UNSC experts who investigated the case nevertheless found in a March report that both Cuba and North Korea had violated the embargo, put on Pyongyang because of its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.

The UNSC decision Monday also spared Cuba any sanctions, with Latin American diplomats at the United Nations saying that Russia, which has a veto in the Security Council, had strongly opposed sanctioning any Cuban entity.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, issued a statement Tuesday branding the Cuban weapons shipment as “a cynical, outrageous and illegal attempt by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent United Nations sanctions.”

UNSC experts found the Cuban weapons, including two anti-aircraft missile systems and 16 engines for Mig-21 jets, were hidden under tons of sugar in the hold of the freighter and that the weapons were not declared in the cargo manifest.

Cuba refused to identify the island officials and companies involved in the shipment, saying its agreement with North Korea required confidentiality.

The shipment was the single largest cargo of weapons bound for North Korea intercepted under the embargo, the experts wrote in their report.
Seam that somebody in DC is trying to help the Castroit tyrannical regime. If the weapons were obsolete, why hide them under tons of sugar? And the UN? Certainly the Latin American countries, Russia, China and other countries are united in not sanctioning the Castroit regime.
 
Fidel Castro in a video against the nuclear war on October 15, 2010, said: Let us have the courage to proclaim that all nuclear or conventional weapons, everything that is used to make war, must disappear.”

The Castroit tyrannical regime is trading brown sugar weapons of destruction with the North Korean government, a state sponsor of terrorism. This is a perfect match and a very dangerous alliance for the rest of the world.

I said the other day take Cuba hostage.
 
Hold Cuba Accountable for Illegal Arms Trafficking
Hold Cuba Accountable for Illegal Arms Trafficking

Thursday, 14 Aug 2014 12:01 PM
By Mauricio Claver-Carone

In July 2013, a North Korean vessel, the Chong Chon Gang, was intercepted by the Panamanian authorities, as it attempted to cross the Canal carrying 240 tons of illegal weapons acquired from Cuba's regime.

According to the United Nations' Panel of Experts ("POE"), which subsequently investigated the incident and issued its findings in a March 2014 report: "This constituted the largest amount of arms and related materiel interdicted to or from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since the adoption of [U.N. Security Council] resolution 1718 (2006)."

It was the first time in recent history that a nation in the Western Hemisphere — namely Cuba — was implicated and found guilty of violating international sanctions.

Yet, earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council announced punitive measures only against the North Korean operator of the Chong Chon Gang vessel, Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd.

The fact that the U.N. Security Council allowed Cuba to get away unscathed is concerning. However, it's not surprising, considering the presence of the Cuban regime's allies, China and Russia, on the Council.

However, the following day, the Obama administration would follow suit.

It announced its own set of sanctions against Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd., and took an additional step by also blacklisting the Chong Chon Gang Shipping Company, the North Korean owner of the vessel.

But just like the U.N. Security Council — it gave Cuba's regime a free pass.

Why not sanction the owners of the Cuban weapons that were being smuggled?

Or the Cuban port operators (Mariel) who colluded in the shipment?

Or the Cuban officials that made the deal with their North Korean counterparts?

Why is the administration unwilling to sanction the Cuban entities and officials involved in this illegal smuggling operation?

Some have speculated that further punitive measures were unnecessary due to already existing U.S. sanctions against Cuba. But the U.S. has long-standing, existing sanctions against North Korea as well.

Others believe Cuba got away scot-free due to its unwillingness to cooperate with the U.N.'s investigation. But that should be even more reason to hold it accountable.

Perhaps the administration is concerned that Raul Castro's son-in-law, General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, was allegedly involved.


This may disrupt its current (and thus far, fruitless) diplomatic engagement with Castro's regime.

Moreover, it may upset European companies, which to do business in Cuba must go through the GAESA military conglomerate (run by General Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas).

This may also be the case with Cuba's Minister of Defense (MINFAR), General Leopoldo Cintas Frias, who hosted a visiting delegation of senior North Korean military officials shortly before the weapons shipment.

Unfortunately, General Pedro Mendiondo, head of the Cuban Air Force and Air Defense Systems, is no longer an option, as he was mysteriously killed in a car accident (without an entourage) a few weeks after the shipment was intercepted.

Such impunity is particularly irresponsible considering the POE's investigation and conclusions, which are a detailed indictment of Cuba's role in the illegal smuggling operation; its coordination with North Korean officials; and its subsequent attempts to lie and cover it up.

Even U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power recently recognized:

"This was a cynical, outrageous, and illegal attempt by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent United Nations sanctions prohibiting the export of weapons to North Korea . . . Irrefutable facts clearly prove Cuba and the DPRK's intentions to violate sanctions by employing highly sophisticated deception and obfuscation techniques."

Consider some of the POE's conclusions:
What the US government should has done is provide a list of the Castro regime officials involved in the illegal operation of weapons smuggling to the UN. The US government cannot ignore the behavior of those who would harm the nation. The US should sanction both dictatorial countries.
 
Fidel Castro in a video against the nuclear war on October 15, 2010, said: Let us have the courage to proclaim that all nuclear or conventional weapons, everything that is used to make war, must disappear.”

The Castroit tyrannical regime is trading brown sugar weapons of destruction with the North Korean government, a state sponsor of terrorism. This is a perfect match and a very dangerous alliance for the rest of the world.

We should just invade Cuba - no one will do anything about it but wag their finger at us.

China can't do anything and Russia wouldn't do anything the only hope Cuba would have would be South American communists that hardly even have a navy.
 
Fraternal Relations, Part I
Fraternal Relations, Part I | National Review Online

By Jay Nordlinger
OCTOBER 1, 2014 12:00 AM

pic_giant_100114_SM_Fidel-Castro.jpg


In the current issue of National Review,
I have a piece called “Thorns and Daggers: The Castros and their allies.” “Thorns and Daggers”? Where did that come from? Way back in 1961, Senator J. William Fulbright made a famous comment: “The Castro regime is a thorn in the flesh, but it is not a dagger in the heart.” That was before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In any event, some of the news has been very familiar lately. Let me quote the first paragraph of my NR piece, please:

The Cold War seems as distant as the War of the Roses, what with something called the “Islamic State” gripping the world’s attention (and cutting off heads). But everything old seems new again, where the Castro dictatorship in Cuba is concerned. After Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin visited the Castros in July, Newsweek ran a headline both amusing and apt: “Why Russia and Cuba Are Partying Like It’s 1962.” The Castros’ relations with North Korea and China, too, are newly warm.

I would like to expand on my piece in a three-part series this week. The first will be devoted to the Castros and North Korea; the second will be devoted to the Castrosand Russia; and the third will be devoted to the Castros and China.............

Upon receiving the unwelcome message from Andropov, Castro appealed to Kim Il-sung, that “veteran and unimpeachable combatant.” (This is Castro talking last year.) Kim came through with arms: sending Castro 100,000 AK-47s, plus the ammo to put in them. And he did all this “without charging us a cent,” said Castro........

A month into the embarrassment of the Chong Chon Gang, Pyongyang held a ceremony in honor of Cuban–North Korean friendship. Speaking for the Norks was an official named So Ho-won: “The Cuban people have won victory by following the road of socialism despite the U.S. political and military pressure and moves for stifling Cuba economically and its subversive
[activities and sabotage.”
Very good article by Jay Nordlinger. So, [w]ho-won? Of course the Castroit regime in a gesture of solidarity, send a hidden compartment of the Chong Chon six trailers associated with surface-to-air missile systems, 25 shipping containers loaded with two disassembled MiG-21 aircraft, 15 engines for MiG-21 aircraft, components for surface-to-air missile systems, ammunition and miscellaneous arms-related materiel. And they did all this “without charging North Korea a cent.”
 
North Korea’s Cuban Friends
North Korea’s Cuban friends: Cuba’s Castros now have a U.S. Hellfire missile to share with Kim Jong Un | Babalú Blog

The Castro boys now have a U.S. Hellfire missile to share with Kim Jong Un.

By
Mary Anastasia O’Grady
Jan. 10, 2016 4:36 p.m. ET

You’d think that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un wouldn’t have a friend in the world these days. His relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and willingness to starve his own people is evil madness. Last week even communist China condemned the supreme leader’s fourth nuclear test, which the chubby little psychopath called “the thrilling sound of our first hydrogen bomb explosion.”

BN-MA477_amcol0_M_20160108164606.jpg


But Mr. Kim is not all alone. He still has the Caribbean’s Cosa Nostra—aka the Castro family—as a friend and ally. The Cold War may be long over, but Cuba is sticking by the North Korean pariah.

This bond exposes Americans to grave risk. Analysts fret that Pyongyang is developing missiles and miniaturized warheads that will allow it to lob a bomb into the continental U.S. But having a desperate ideological pal 90 miles from U.S. shores magnifies the danger. In the past 21/2 years Cuba has tried to smuggle weapons to Pyongyang, engaged in high-level meetings with North Korean officials, and secured U.S. military technology. Anybody want to connect the dots?
Click link above for full article.
The missile and its secret technology ended up in Castrolandia. The American people expects aggressive oversight in national security matters. Obviously through reverse engineering the Castroit regime could find out the secret technology and ways to counter it. This would be invaluable to countries like Russia, China North Korea, Iran and ISIS.
 
It is very disturbing that this happened during the Obama administration unprecedented political rapprochement with the Castroit regime. The administration knew that the Castroit regime had the missile, and should have demanded it back in order to normalize diplomatic relations. Was this and accident or something graver, maybe treason?
 
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