Arnaldo Ochoa - Arrest and Execution

Arrest and Execution

Five years later, Ochoa was chosen by Defense Minister Raul Castro to become the head of Cuba's Western Army. Since this branch of the military protects Cuba's capital city, Havana, and its top leaders and installations, the position would have made him the third most powerful military figure on the island, after Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and General Raul Castro. What was expected to be a routine background check prior to the announcement of his appointment began to unravel, however, when some close associates accused the revolutionary hero of corruption which included, but was not limited to, the sale of diamonds and ivory from Angola and the misappropriation of weapons in Nicaragua. As the investigation continued, links were found to other military and Ministry of the Interior officials who were engaged in even more serious crimes: taking pay-offs from South American drug-traffickers in exchange for letting them use Cuban territorial waters for drug drops and pick-ups. General Raul Castro, who was very close to Ochoa personally, later said he pleaded with Ochoa on a number of occasions to come clean, reveal everything, so they could move forward. When Ochoa refused to cooperate, on June 12, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces announced his arrest and investigation of for serious acts of corruption, dishonest use of economic resources, and abetting drug trafficking.

Ochoa was put behind bars for a month in west Havana, in the military base named Reloj Club Boinas Rojas. During this time his closest friends and associates continued their attempts to persuade him to cooperate in hopes of ameliorating his sentence. During this same time Patricio and Tony de la Guardia and others were apprehended and charged as well. Ochoa and the others finally went before a Military Honour Court. Their trial, which provided ample evidence of the crimes that were committed, including dates, places, amounts of money and drugs involved, along with the lesser crimes of smuggling diamonds and ivory for sale, was viewed on Cuban television. During the trial none of the defendants claimed that they had not carried out these acts; only that there were "mitigating circumstances". At one point Ochoa mused over what had brought him to this point, saying that initially he was trying to help secure weapons and other materials needed for his troops, and then one thing led to another. The Military Court found him guilty of all charges, including the capital offense of treason. Prosecutors had presented evidence that at least one pilot involved in the transfer of drugs had been contracted by the CIA, and argued that if the United States government instead of the Cuban government had discovered and revealed the involvement of high level Cuban military personnel in drug trafficking, that would have provided an excuse for invading Cuba. Alternatively, they surmised, if Cuba had gone ahead and appointed General Ochoa as head of the Western Army, the US would have been in a good position to blackmail and control one of the people most responsible for the country's security.

Four of the defendants, including Ochoa and Tony de la Guardia, were given death sentences for the crime of treason. Not only had they betrayed the high level of trust in them by the government and people of Cuba, the Court declared, but had placed the entire country in jeopardy by their actions.

All death penalty convictions in Cuba are automatically sent on appeal to the Council of State, which can affirm, overturn or commute such sentences. The Council of State unanimously confirmed the convictions and death penalty. The charges, conviction and death sentences were extremely upsetting to much of the Cuban population, especially in the case of Arnaldo Ochoa, who was considered by most people in Cuba to be on of the most respected Generals in the Cuban Armed Forces. But most who voiced an opinion, while expressing sadness, accepted the decision as necessary in light of the grave danger Ochoa's actions had placed the country in. The death penalty is rarely invoked in Cuba, and this was the only time it was invoked against a popular and respected leader.

At dawn on July 13, 1989, Arnaldo Tomas Ochoa Sanchez "El Moro", was executed by a firing squad at the military base known as "Tropas Especiales" in Baracoa, West Havana. A widely accepted account tells how he asked not to be blindfolded and to give the command to the firing squad himself. Both wishes were granted. Another version details the Chief of the Military's Special Troops, Gen. José Luis Mesa Delgado, putting a final bullet in Ochoa's head. A statement in the Granma newspaper the next day announced his execution to the Cuban public. His wife was later informed of an unmarked grave in Havana's Cemetery.

There exists belief that the charges were trumped up by the Cuban state in retaliation for his military loss in Angola against the South African Defence Force. Then Defence Minister Raul Castro, Fidel's brother, quoted the general as saying: "I have been sent to a lost war so that I will be blamed for the defeat." After he could not win the battle of Cuito Cuanavale against the South Africans he was summoned back to Havana, at which point the events leading to charges occurred. This political interpretation however is made inconsistent by the fact that the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale was ultimately an operational success that forced apartheid forces from Angola and ultimately helped set into motion the process of democratization in South Africa.