No Defense for Terror (Part 7)

So what did Ricardo "El Mono" Morales Navarrete say in a Florida courtroom? Well, it wasn't exactly a courtroom, but instead an office.

Beginning in 1980, Morales had become a state informant for a Miami narcotics investigation called Operation Tick-Talks which eventually led to 53 arrests. Among those arrested were "veteran dealers, respected business people and the politically well-connected."[1]

For three weeks in 1982, Morales testified under oath to "two attempted murders, gangland bombings, political terrorism, narcotics dealing and a role in the destruction of an airliner in which 73 persons died."[2]

"In a ninth-floor office in the Metro Justice Building, Morales was questioned under oath by [Attorneys] Douglas Williams, Ed Carhart and Kirk Munroe for more than three weeks, with Williams asking most of the questions. Lasting more than 75 hours, the sessions produced nearly 1,000 pages of transcripts."[2]

What is important to us is what exactly Ricardo Morales confessed to concerning the 1976 bombing.

"Morales said he helped provide anti-Castro terrorists with the explosive for the bomb."[2]

According to deposition copies found here and here, Morales says he was "part of the conspirators." Specifically, "surveillance of the regular flights of that Cuban Air Force plane*, providing by a third party the explosives."

*[Morales believed that the Cubana airplane was a Cuban Air Force plane in disguise.]

But, there's more that Morales allegedly confessed to.

According to a El Nuevo Herald article from May 9, 2005, the lead detective of Operation Tick-Talks, Diosdado Diaz, said that Morales "stated to him in 1982 that [Morales] supplied the explosives and that [Luis Posada Carriles] prepped them to bring down the plane."

Diosdado Diaz at the time was a veteran to the Special Investigations Section in Miami, the city's anti-terrorism agency. In 1981 he had been selected as December's Officer of the Month.

Before Ricardo Morales was extensively questioned by attorney Douglas Williams, Diosdado Diaz had already questioned Morales. "Douglas Williams recalls that it was the detective [Diosdado Diaz] who confirmed for him in a lengthy deposition that Morales, as chief of counterespionage for Venezuela, had played a role in the Cubana Airlines bombing."[1]

It is in this deposition that Morales claims Luis Posada was involved in the 1976 bombing. Unfortunately, according to the 2005 Herald article, "Diaz says he wrote a report for the Miami police on Morales' confession, but the record could not be found."

How fortunate for Luis Posada Carriles.

But, there is ANOTHER person who also says that Ricardo "El Mono" Morales confessed to Posada's involvement in the '76 bombing.

Osmeiro Carneiro.

[1]The Miami Herald, October 3, 1982, "Errors Lead to Tick-Talks Toss-Out" by Eric Reider.

[2]The Miami Herald, June 1, 1982, "Terrorist Admits Bombings and Two Attempted Murders" by John Katzenbach.

[Part 8]