Statement from U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on Clinton Campaign/Cuba Connection

First Lady Hillary Clinton and Vice President Al Gore with Drug Smuggler Jorge Cabrera

Published Thursday, October 9, 1997, in the Miami Herald

Statement from U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

As a Cuban- American and a Congressional representative from South Florida, I am especially interested in knowing the relationship between certain alleged illicit contributions made by South Florida residents and their effects upon U.S. / Cuba relation.

Specifically I would like to know why:

Jorge Cabrera, a convicted felon and drug dealer, states that he was approached for a contribution $20,000 to the DNC in exchange for an invitation to a fundraiser for Vice-President Gore?

Was his background as a drug dealer not investigated?

Even if Cabrera's reputation and past convictions were ignored, did someone not wonder as to the origins of the $20,000 check, which came from Mr. Cabrera's checking account that supposedly includes funds from Colombian cocaine deals?

Mr. Cabrera has been supposedly convicted for trafficking 6,000 pounds of cocaine and now sits in a federal penitentiary fulfilling a 19-year sentence.

The supposed solicitor of this contribution, who Mr. Cabrera claims was Vivian Mannerud, a major contributor to the Democratic Party, owner of an airline charter company that flies to Havana, and who is a renowned sympathizer of the repressive agenda of the Castro dictatorship.

Mr. Cabrera claims he met with Ms. Mannerud at the Copacabana Hotel, a posh hotel in one of Havana's most exclusive areas.

If Cabrera's claims are correct, is the DNC condoning the pursuit of contributions solicited by a U.S. resident, who could very possibly be spending U.S. dollars in Cuba and therefore breaking the law?

I am also concerned about the location where the petition for the funds took place -- Havana, Cuba -- home to the tyrannical Castro regime.

Considering U.S. / Cuba relations in the past, do not Mr. Cabrera's claims that the petition for a donation took place in Havana, Cuba, conflict with U.S. foreign policy?

If Mr. Cabrera's claims are true, is the DNC condoning the practice of U.S. residents visiting Cuba, a country controlled by a totalitarian regime, to also solicit funds for United States Presidential campaigns int he Cuban capital?

Another concern of mine is the recent testimony given by Plantation, Florida businessman R. Warren Medoff before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

On October 22nd of last year, Mr. Medoff attended a $1,500-a-plate Coral Gables fundraiser, intending, he said, to urge the President to renew aid flights to Cuba. These flights had been banned to Cuba since March, when Castro's fighters killed 4 innocent men and shot down their planes, which were on a humanitarian mission flying over international waters.

Mr. Medoff said that he indicated to the President that he could offer the Democratic party a $5 million gift. The President, states Medoff, responded by saying, "You can tell the people that they will be able to fly."

The flights were resumed the same day.

Based on Mr. Medoff's claims one wonders:

Is the White House, in consideration for a substantial contribution, $5 million, willing to forgo the loss of American lives, who were flying over international waters and who were shot down by Castro in order to fill up its treasure chest?

Is the White House using its power to influence U.S. foreign policy in order to fulfill its campaign needs and reelect the President?

I would like to bring up the ties of one last South Florida resident, John Henry Cabanas, a Key West businessman who has publicly expressed admiration for Castro, stating `fidel is like my father, and I believe he loves me like his son.'' Federal records show that Mr. Cabanas appears to have contributed and helped in steering over $62,000 to the Democratic Party and its candidates.

A lawyer at the Treasury Department says that U.S. law ``prohibits a person from knowingly and willfully engaging in a transaction with Cuba or a Cuban national.'' According to sources, Cabanas flouted that law for decades by spending money and receiving payment for his work in Cuba before he left in 1988.

Is the Democratic Party and its candidates therefore condoning the violation of U.S. laws, that is to engage in a transaction with Cuba, which Mr. Cabanas appears to have done, in order to be the recipient of a hefty contribution?

Is the Democratic party and its candidates, willing to play both sides by saying it will play hard ball with the Cuban tyrant, but at the same time willing to accept monies form one who not only admires him, but also contributed to his regime?

There is also the issue of Mr. Cabanas' alleged counter intelligence work. According to two former Cuban intelligence officials, Cabana was a full-time agent of the Interior Ministry's State Security Department. A defector and one time 20 year Interior Ministry Intelligence officer also went as far as to claim to watching Cabanas when he was enlisted in counterintelligence. He stated that Cabanas' specific job was to spot spies among foreigners in Cuba, including diplomats, journalists and tourists.

Mr. Cabanas' counterintelligence work for the Cuban regime is very alarming.

Did the Democratic party in its frenzy to retain sufficient funds to re-elect the President and oust the Republican Congress, allow for contributions to be made by ex-spies of a totalitarian and repressive dictatorship?

Has this spy been able to influence U.S. policy to Cuba?

What would a reputed Castro admirer and counterintelligence officer ask of the Democratic Party and its candidates in return for his contributions?

It is necessary to investigate whether any of the contributions resulted in any softening of U.S. policy toward the Castro regime. I hope that this committee examines to the fullest any intent by the Castro regime and its sympathizers in the United States of influencing U.S. policy toward the Cuban dictator.