From Cabbages to Fireflies*

The Carromero-Modig case

By La Saeta (The Arrow)

HAVANA – The second definition of “conspiracy” in the dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language is “the actions of persons who gather against someone to harm him.” The word is used much in the United States when people want to inflate a crime or, at times, to deflate a judgment.

I don’t attempt to engage in a semantic debate that, according to Noam Chomsky, could misplace reality the same way as democracy is damaged by those who insist on being its standard-bearers.

The topic is the Carromero-Modig case, two young men, one Spanish the other Swedish, who lamentably were pivotal in tragic events, compelled by those who are experienced in acting against others out of sheer ideological intolerance or maybe intoxicated by it.
Here are excerpts from an editorial of Cuba’s main newspaper, Granma. It is the most official of all Cuban newspapers, and performs its task openly, without fancy masks, which leads me to think that the information it brings comes from official sources.

Regarding Ángel Carromero Barrios, who was driven the car that crashed, killing two persons, it states that he “is the Deputy Secretary General of New Generations, the youth branch of the Popular Party of Spain, close to the notorious anti-Cubans José María Aznar, former Prime Minister, and Esperanza Aguirre, president of the Madrid Community.”

A former aide to Aznar, a Popular Party deputy and chief of the PP’s youth branch, Pablo Casado Blanco, instructed Carromero to get in touch with the Spaniard Cayetana Muriel Aguado, “who lives in Sweden, a member of the Christian Democratic Party of Sweden, from whom he received instructions, the money to deliver and a cell phone programmed with the necessary numbers. Later, Carromero contacted the Swede, Modig, through Facebook and met him in a Madrid restaurant.”

 “The other passenger was Jens Aron Modig, leader of the Christian Democratic Party of Sweden and president of its Youth League, with ties (among other organizations in opposition to the Havana government) to the International Republic Institute (IRI) and linked to those in the Nordic right wing who harass us the most.”

Pay attention! When both arrived on the island, they did so with the status of tourists, but, “in violation of their immigration status, they engaged in wholly political activities against the constitutional order.” Their objective was to bring funds to the Liberation Christian Movement directed by Oswaldo Payá, its leader and one of the men killed in the car accident. But they also had been assigned to propose (order?) the creation of a youth structure associated with that dissident group.

Because the operation was “organized by Anikka Rigo, chief of the Foreign Relations Section of the Swedish Christian Democratic Party,” which had engaged in acts of this nature in the past, you will understand why I referred to a “conspiracy” at the start of this story.

Granma also recalls that, on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba, eight Mexican youths, also with tourist visas, were trained to spoil the event by inciting others to seize churches, stage protests and create other disorders.

 “Four of them were arrested. They admitted that they had been coached by Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, of the Cuban Democratic Directory of Miami, to carry out that operation of resupply and propaganda. They also said that the chief of the operation in Mexico was René Bolio Hollarán, a former reserve Senator for the National Action Party (PAN), who was closely linked to mafia chiefs in Florida.”

These are only a couple of the innumerable but well-documented maneuvers “organized from Miami, basically, and also from Madrid and Stockholm.” The social networks are also used to subvert the public order, from abroad and inside the island, using popular sites like Facebook to promote projects of “civil disobedience.”

My friend Common Sense might ask: Would you consider any of these acts as legal or permissible if they happened in Washington, Stockholm, Madrid or Cochinchina?
Carromero and Modig delivered the money to the addressee and coached him according to the plan, as part of which they traveled to Santiago de Cuba, a city near the site of the disaster. Both received consular assistance and an almost exaggerated (copious, at the very least) media coverage from abroad.

“The Spaniard Ángel Carromero Barrios has been charged with homicide while driving a vehicle on a public road. The Swede Jens Aron Modig was allowed to return to his country, despite the illegal activities he performed and the violation of his immigration status.”

This is an episode among many (recall Alan Gross) made to supply equipment, finance or promote acts against the Cuban government, where there is a record of malice (the Alpha torture center in Guantánamo) repudiated even by the best friends of the United States, some sincerely, others pro forma.

Lamentably, it will not be the final instance. They must be outraged as they see themselves stripped naked – one more time.

*From Cabbages to Fireflies is a blog under construction.

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