Orlando Bosch:
Otto Reich was sent off as Ambassador to Venezuela after the Contra war, where he was able to secure the release of the jailed Cuban exile terrorist, Orlando Bosch. This man had been jailed for eleven years for his role in the worst instance of airline terrorism in the Western Hemisphere (up until September 11, 2001, that is). This was the bombing of a Cuban plane which killed all 73 civilians on board in 1976. The U.S. Justice Department had evidence of Bosch's involvement in more than 30 other terrorist acts, some of them committed within the United States, including a rocket attack on a Polish ship in Miami. With the help of Otto Reich and Jeb Bush, who was busy ingratiating himself with right-wing Cuban Americans in Florida, Bosch was pardoned by George Bush I in 1992.
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http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zeroes/Otto_Reich.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Reich, in his key role at the Office of Public Diplomacy, routinely lied to the public about US involvement in writing assassination manuals, mining Nicaraguan harbors and ultimately about what became the facts of the Iran-Contra scandal. But, true to the formula for success in Washington, he got promoted for his astute dissembling and became US ambassador to Venezuela.
While serving in that post he helped President Bush I circumvent immigration laws and reject advise from the FBI in the successful attempt to get a notorious terrorist named Orlando Bosch special immigration status so he could return to the United States where, naturally, he continued his terrorist plotting against Cuba.
Reich subsequently served the public interest by lobbying for the tobacco industry, selling arms to third world countries and serving the cause of the Bacardi (rum) family as a kind of personal emissary for the booze giants.
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http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2002-02/15landau.cfm~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Reich first gained notoriety throughout Latin America and among US human rights groups for his role as head of the Office of Public Diplomacy during the Reagan administration. This office launched an anti-Sandinista propaganda campaign, illegally designed to influence the American public to embrace the administration’s agenda for Central America. Later, as US ambassador to Venezuela, Reich used his office to help Orlando Bosch, a known terrorist, get into the US. Bosch was convicted of firing a bazooka at a freighter in Miami, and accused of bombing a Cuban jet, killing 73 people. Despite this record the current Bush administration nominated Reich for Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. In this capacity Reich admittedly advised Pedro Carmona—the businessman who seized the presidency—during the failed coup in Venezuela last month. Also he met with generals who planned the coup in the months leading up to the coup (some of whom were trained at the SOA).
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http://www.soaw.org/new/article.php?id=332~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~What a prince!
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Otto was appointed as ambassador to Venezuela, a disparaging gesture remembered for years in Caracas. There he dedicated himself to securing the release of killer pediatrician and CIA agent Orlando Bosch--detained there after the horrific sabotage of a Cuban airliner--and to act the mafioso on behalf of U.S. interests, particularly within Venezuela's Cuban emigre business circles.
Reich, born in Cuba of an Austrian father and an emigre to the United States at an early age, established his Venezuelan network in military circles--thus obtaining an order for Bosch's release from a military tribunal--and within the Venezuelan secret services, in which the CIA and the U.S. embassy had their people well placed.
That same U.S. embassy in Caracas is currently occupied by Ambassador Charles Shapiro, former head of the State Department's Cuba Desk, who received the central civilian conspirators of the April 11 coup on a regular basis, for several weeks prior to that action.
During the '80s, Otto Reich launched disinformation from his Office of Public Diplomacy, like the one about MiG fighter planes being purchased secretly by Nicaragua and allegedly ready to attack U.S. territory, and the story that the Miskito Indians were being persecuted by the Sandinistas. He also circulated rumors to discredit journalists who wrote about the Nicaraguan revolution in terms that were considered too positive.
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http://www.counterpunch.org/allard0420.html(Don't forget, over 30 countries had refused to accept Orlando Bosch before Otto Reich, Jeb Bush, and Cuban "exile" Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen interceded with George H. W. Bush and got him to overturn the Attorney General's finding against him, and pardon his @$$.)