• He is "obsessed with Cuba" and his prescription is "economic warfare." [Dallas Morning News, 3/4/01]
• He ran a government office which engaged in "prohibited, covert propaganda activities" within the U.S to support the "contra" fighters against the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua as part of the Iran-Contra scandal under President Reagan; this was "beyond the range of acceptable agency public information activities," and in violation of "a restriction on the State Dept.’s annual appropriations prohibiting the use of federal funds for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress," according to the Republican-appointed Comptroller-General of the U.S. [See letter of 9/30/87, at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB40/]
• Reich is also Vice-Chairman of an apparel industry front group (WRAP), characterized "as a way for clothing importers to avoid serious scrutiny of their factories in the third world." http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/republicanrule/profiles.html#reich

He is now Bush’s Nominee for Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs! Your senators still need to vote on his confirmation; call them toll free at 800-374-6702.

For more info, contact: Natl. Lawyers Guild Cuba Subcommittee, 606 W. Wisconsin Ave. Suite 1706, Milwaukee, WI 53203 (414) 273-1040; CubaWiFriends@mindspring.com; www.nlg.org 

Summary of the facts:

An incomplete documentary trail indicates that while serving as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela between 1986 and 1989, Otto Reich paid careful attention to the case of Orlando Bosch, a Cuban exile terrorist who was released from prison in Venezuela in 1987.

Bosch, a Miami resident but not a U.S. citizen, had spent years in U.S. jails for terrorist activities. Wanted for questioning in a murder case in 1974, Bosch had violated his parole by leaving the country. He traveled to Venezuela, Chile, Costa Rica and other parts of Latin America and then was arrested in Venezuela in 1976 for the dynamiting of a Cuban airliner in Barbados, with the loss for 73 lives. U.S. agencies and Venezuelan authorities both considered him the author of that crime. Bosch was regarded as one of the most notorious terrorists of the time.

About six weeks after Reich presented his credentials in Caracas, a Venezuelan judge ordered Bosch "absolved" of the aircraft bombing. Embassy cables show that Reich immediately inquired about Bosch's possible return to the U.S. in the first of several cables spanning about a year and a half, both before and after Bosch's actual release from the Venezuelan prison.

Upon Bosch's return to Miami in 1988, he was arrested for illegal entry into the U.S. and his detention triggered a political uproar in certain exile circles. Securing Bosch's freedom became a cause celebre for some politicians, who lobbied then-President Bush for a pardon.

In June 1989 the Justice Department concluded that Bosch should be deported from the U.S. because he "has repeatedly expressed and demonstrated a willingness to cause indiscriminate injury and death." Rejecting that recommendation, the Bush administration paroled Bosch in 1990, and granted him an administrative pardon in 1992.

Issues:

The core issue is why a US ambassador would concern himself with the well-being of a foreign national whom US intelligence agencies had long considered a violent terrorist.

An additional question is why the Bush administration ultimately verruled the Justice Department and INS, issuing a pardon to a serial terrorist who showed no remorse and was still considered extremely dangerous.

The case suggests a complex relationship between Reich and members of the Cuban exile communities in both Venezuela and the U.S. and U.S. politicians. A full investigation would encompass the politically connected anti-Castro militants in Miami who in 1989-90 interceded with then-President George President on Bosch's behalf, as well as the anti-Castro exile community in Venezuela.

Venezuelan officials such as former President Carlos Andres Perez who were familiar both with the prosecution of Bosch and with Reich's record in Caracas may have a useful perspective both on the freeing of Bosch case and on Reich's record as a diplomat.

Background:

Before the bomb destroyed the Cubana de Aviacion flight on Oct. 6, 1976, US officials had suspected that Bosch was planning an attack on a civilian airplane. They had asked that he be deported from Venezuela to the U.S. on the grounds of his parole violation. Among the 73 people killed were 24 members of the Cuban Olympic fencing team, mostly teenagers.

When Otto Reich began his term as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela in June, 1986, Orlando Bosch had been imprisoned for 10 years as mastermind of the attack. On July 21, 1986, six weeks after Reich had presented his credentials in Caracas, a Venezuelan judge issued an initial ruling that Bosch was innocent of the aircraft bombing. Former President Carlos Andres Perez said that the Bosch file had been tampered with.

The ruling required an additional stage of judicial review and Bosch was not actually released from prison until the next year. But in the same cable in which Reich reported that Bosch had been "absolved", he immediately began querying Washington about Bosch's eligibility to return to the U.S.

On September 1, 1987 Reich informed the State Department that several Caracas papers had reported that Bosch, who had been released a few weeks earlier, had sent a letter to a conference of intellectual dissidents in Caracas thanking them for having invited him to serve as president of the conference. Reich's cable said the letter also thanked Bosch's "compatriot Otto Reich" for his efforts in behalf of their common goals. Reich denied contact with Bosch and said that the letter might be "Soviet-Cuban disinformation."

Other diplomatic cables from Reich to the State Department indicate that Reich warned Washington that Bosch was a candidate to be the target of a Cuban hit squad, and reported that Bosch's friends, with whom he was in contact, were ready to "whisk him out of the country on four hours' notice." In December 1987 a cable signed by Reich requested clearance for issuance of an immigrant visa for Bosch.

The U.S. visa was not issued and in February 1988 when Bosch returned to Miami, he was detained for the prior parole violation and for illegal entry. Bosch's rearrest became an instant cause celebre in certain Miami circles. The pressure for his pardon and release became a central focus of the 1988 political campaign of Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), whose campaign manager at the time was Jeb Bush, now governor of Florida. In 1990 the Bush administration paroled Bosch, and in 1992 it quietly granted an administrative pardon.

"The release from jail of Orlando Bosch," wrote the New York Times in a July 20, 1990, editorial, "is a startling example of political justice. The Justice Department, under no legal compulsion but conspicuous political pressure, has let him out, winning cheers from local politicians-and squandering American credibility on issues of terrorism.

"In the name of fighting terrorism," the editorial continued, "the United States has sent the Air Force to bomb Libya and the Army to invade Panama. Yet now the Bush administration coddles one of the hemisphere's most notorious terrorists. And for what reason? The only one evident is currying favor in South Florida."

After Bosch was pardoned, he remained defiantly unrepentant. Newspaper accounts indicate that he defended the bombing of the passenger plane as "a legitimate act of war" and called the agreement he had signed forswearing violence and setting conditions on his release "a farce."

Bosch reportedly boasted, "They purchased the chain, but they don't have the monkey."

The documentary evidence on Reich's dealings in behalf of Bosch is incomplete. In response to a 1993 Freedom of Information Act request filed by the National Security Archive the State Department reported finding 352 documents relating to Bosch, but it only released 188 of them. Material in 31 documents was excised, and 92 documents were withheld in full on the grounds of national security.

Backup documents that may be useful in understanding the case:

Kissinger cable, Oct. 1976
Reich cable, July 1986
Reich cable, Aug 1986 "Bosch's Friends Poised to Whisk Him Away"
Reich cable, Sept 1987, "Possible Soviet-Cuban Disinformation"
Reich cable, Dec 29, 1987, apparently requesting visa for Bosch
Levitsky memo to Donald Gregg, June 8, 1988, "Response by Vice President Bush..."

Newspaper Articles:

James LeMoyne, "Cuban Linked to Terror Bombings," New York Times, July 17, 1990. Jeffery Schmalz, "Furor Over Castro Foe's Fate,"New York Times, Aug. 16, 1998.
"The Bosch Case Does Violence to Justice," Editorial, New York Times, July 20, 1990.
Ann Louis Bardach and Larry Rohter, "Our Hit Man in Havana," Sacramento Bee, July 26, 1998
Rohter-Bardach, NYT, July 12-13, 1998 A Bombers Tale (three parts)
Rohter-Bardach, NYT, May 1, 1998, A Plot on Castro Spotlights Exiles
Rohter-Bardach, NYT Aug. 26, 1998, Cuban Exile Leaders Accused in Plot on Castro

**I worked at the NS Archives for Peter Kornbluh in 1998...they are a superb source of info on this criminal...below are links to their Electronic Briefing Book on Otto Reich...please forward to your local media if you have time... interesting info for everyone!

In solidarity, Paddy Newell

* The Comptroller-General of the U.S., a Republican appointee, found that some of the efforts of Mr. Reich's public diplomacy office were "prohibited, covert propaganda activities," "beyond the range of acceptable agency public information activities.." The same September 30, 1987 letter concluded that Mr. Reich's office had violated "a restriction on the State Department's annual appropriations prohibiting the use of federal funds for publicity or propaganda purposes not authorized by Congress." The letter also said, "We do not believe, however, that available evidence will support a conclusion that the applicable antilobbying statute has been violated."

* The General Accounting Office in an October 30, 1987 letter and report found that Mr. Reich's office "generally did not follow federal regulations governing contractual procedures" in its contracting "with numerous individuals and several companies." The GAO quoted Mr. Reich as saying "he was generally unfamiliar with the details related to the office's contracting procedures. Instead he relied on his staff as well as State's procurement office to ensure that federal regulations were adhered to."

* The bipartisan report of the Congressional Iran-contra committees (November 1987, p. 34) found that "[i]n fact, 'public diplomacy' turned out to mean public relations-lobbying, all at taxpayers' expense." The committees concluded their discussion by quoting the Comptroller-General's findings in the September 30, 1987 letter. A detailed critique of the public diplomacy operation, written by Iran-contra committee staff, was deleted from the Iran-contra report after heated partisan debate (see Robert Parry and Peter Kornbluh, "Iran-Contra's Untold Story," Foreign Policy, No. 72, Fall 1988, pp. 3-30).

* A staff report by the House Foreign Affairs Committee (September 7, 1988) summarized various investigations of Mr. Reich's office and concluded that "senior CIA officials with backgrounds in covert operations, as well as military intelligence and psychological operations specialists from the Department of Defense, were deeply involved in establishing and participating in a domestic political and propaganda operation run through an obscure bureau in the Department of State which reported directly to the National Security Council rather than through the normal State Department channels.. Through irregular sole-source, no-bid contracts, S/LPD established and maintained a private network of individuals and organizations whose activities were coordinated with, and sometimes directed by, Col. Oliver North as well as officials of the NSC and S/LPD. These private individuals and organizations raised and spent funds for the purpose of influencing Congressional votes and U.S. domestic news media. This network raised and funneled money to off-shore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands or to the secret Lake Resources bank account in Switzerland for disbursement at the direction of Oliver North. Almost all of these activities were hidden from public view and many of the key individuals involved were never questioned or interviewed by the Iran/Contra Committees."

* Mr. Reich responded in detail to questioning by staff of the Iran/Contra Committees in a formal deposition on July 15, 1987. The full text of the 122-page deposition is included here. Part of the questioning revolved around a lengthy March 20, 1985 memo written by Oliver North to National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane, providing "the chronology of events aimed at securing Congressional approval for renewed support to the Nicaraguan Resistance Forces." The chronology contains repeated listings of actions to be taken by "State/LPD (Reich)"; however, Mr. Reich testified that he "never saw it as a tasking memorandum" and that he was unaware that his contractors were involved in lobbying efforts or ads targeted on specific members of Congress. North's memo also referred to an advertisement ("53 cents per day supports a freedom fighter") that was off-message; the text of the ad was attached to Mr. Reich's deposition as an exhibit.

* On March 12, 1985, one of Mr. Reich's staff, Daniel "Jake" Jacobowitz, on detail from the U.S. Air Force, wrote a detailed "public diplomacy action plan" that paralleled the North chronology, with candid commentary about the lobbying campaign including a three-item list of audiences: "U.S. Congress," "U.S. media," and "interest groups."

* On March 13, 1985, Mr. Reich's deputy, Johnathan S. Miller, wrote a two-page report to White House director of communications Pat Buchanan, giving what Miller called "[f]ive illustrative examples of the Reich 'White Propaganda' operation." These included op-eds the office had written or placed covertly, without any acknowledgement of the government's role, and planned op-eds under the contra leaders' bylines.

* Mr. Reich sought and obtained staff for his office by getting them detailed from various U.S. military units engaged in "psychological operations." The declassified documents include requests for these detailees on March 5, 1985 and on September 18, 1985, a staff discussion of the need for detailees on December 10, 1985, a December 16, 1985 request for certificates of appreciation for five detailees, and a plaintive memo to NSC staffer and former CIA official Walt Raymond on January 5, 1986 complaining that the Pentagon had turned down a new request for detailees. Perhaps the most illuminating discussion of the psyops detailees can be found in a May 30, 1985 memo from Jake Jacobowitz to Mr. Reich about the impending arrival of five detailees, calling them the "A-team" and including the comment "Since he is a PSYOP type he will also be looking for exploitable themes and trends.."

 * The final document included here is an April 15, 1984 memo drafted by Mr. Reich for Secretary of State George Shultz to send to President Reagan, describing a specific intervention by Mr. Reich with CBS News as an example of the day-to-day work of the public diplomacy office. ************************************************************

Note: The following documents are in PDF format. You will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view.

Comptroller General of the United States to Dante Fascell, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, [Legal Opinion on Issue of Alleged Lobbying and the Development and Dissemination of Propaganda], September 30, 1987, 10 pp.

United States General Accounting Office, Report to Congressional Requesters, State's Administration of Certain Public Diplomacy Contracts, October 1987, 14 pp.

 Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran-Contra Affair, November 13, 1987, Excerpt, 2 pp.

Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, Staff Report, State Department and Intelligence Community Involvement in Domestic Activities Related to the Iran/Contra Affair, September 7, 1988, 34 pp.

Deposition of Otto J. Reich before the Senate Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Opposition, July 15, 1987, 70 pp.

 NSC Intelligence Document, Oliver North to Robert C. McFarlane, Timing and the Nicaraguan Resistance Vote, March 20, 1985, 8 pp.

Col. Daniel Jacobowitz (Office of Public Diplomacy), Public Diplomacy Action Plan: Support for the White House Educational Campaign, March 12, 1985, 9 pp.

Johnathan S. Miller (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Pat Buchanan, Director of Communications, The White House, "White Propaganda" Operation, March 13, 1985, Confidential, 3 pp.

Memorandum, Otto Reich (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Ray Warren Department of Defense), TDY Personnel for S/LPD, March 5, 1985, 3 pp.

Otto J. Reich (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Col. David Brown, Executive Secretary, Office of the Secretary of Defense, [Request for Detail of Military Officers to Office of Public Diplomacy], September 18, 1985, 2 pp.

Office of Public Diplomacy, Minutes of the Public Diplomacy Meeting, December 10, 1985, December 11, 1985, 1 p.

Otto Reich (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Mrs. Roosevelt, Request for Tributes of Appreciation, December 16, 1985, 7 pp.

Otto Reich (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Walter Raymond (National Security Council), Denial of Detail of Personnel by DoD, January 5, 1986, 3 pp.

Col. Daniel Jacobowitz (Office of Public Diplomacy) to Otto Reich (Office of Public Diplomacy), Duties of TDY Military Personnel, May 30, 1985, 2 pp.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Memorandum for the President, News Coverage of Central America, April 15, 1984, 3 pp.

Jane Franklin
Author of Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jbfranklins