Arnaldo Tomás Ochoa Sánchez (1930 – July 13, 1989) was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

who was

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

by the government of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

after being found guilty of a variety of crimes including drug smuggling and

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

Career

Ever since its creation, he was part of Fidel Castro's

26th of July Movement The 26 July Movement (; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an at ...

, and by March 1957 he had joined Castro's

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

army in the

Sierra Maestra The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view i ...

, fighting against dictator

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

. Ochoa played a major role in the fall of Santa Clara, becoming a close friend of

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz ( ; ; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the One-par ...

. Ochoa is said to have been the only survivor of the

Camilo Cienfuegos Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán (; 6 February 1932 – 28 October 1959) was a Cuban revolutionary. One of the major figures of the Cuban Revolution, he was considered second only to Fidel Castro among the revolutionary leadership. The son of An ...

loyalists sent on a doomed expedition against the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic in 1959.Hernández, Félix José (accessed 10-22-07) Fidel Castro: la Infancia de un Jefe, Consejo Militar Cubano Americano. "Franqui narra como después de la muerte de Camilo, su tropa fue enviada a 'liberar' a la República Dominicana, osea, a una muerte segura. Sus oficiales de la Sierra pasaron a ocupar puestos de segunda categoría. ¡El único que se salvó en aquel momento fue ... Arnaldo Ochoa!" He also fought against

Brigade 2506 Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506) was a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro. It carried out the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion landings in Cuba ...

in the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

. E. Bovo, the Curator of the Bay of Pigs Museum, claims that he was not a commander, rather that he served under '

El Gallego El Gallego in Spanish means 'The Galician', but Cubans apply it to anyone likened to Spanish working class immigrants, hence it is often combined with given names of Cubans and quoted in literature.Thomas, Hugh. (1971), 1986. ''The Cuban Revolution ...

José Ramón Fernández José Ramón Fernández Álvarez (November 4, 1923 – January 6, 2019) was a Cuban Communist leader who was a vice-president of the Council of Ministers. Pre-Revolution life Fernández Alvarez was born in Santiago de Cuba, where he studied h ...

, a former officer under the Batista government. In 1965 he became a member of the

Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of Cuba (, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26th of July Movement and Popu ...

. Ochoa was a member of the Party's Central Committee for more than twenty years. He attended the War College in

Matanzas Matanzas (Cuban ; ) is the capital of the Cuban province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas. Known for its poets, culture, and Afro-American religions, Afro-Cuban folklore, it is located on the northern shore of the island of Cuba, on the Bay of Mat ...

, Cuba, and was later sent to the

Frunze Academy The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a Military college, military academy of the Soviet Armed Forces, Sov ...

in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1966 Ochoa with the Venezuelan guerrilla commander Luben Petkoff, took a boat to the shores of

Falcón Falcón State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is Coro, Venezuela, Coro. The state was named after Juan Crisóstomo Falcón. History Early history Present day Falcón State was first explored ...

, Venezuela, one of his most secretive expedition. Along with 15 other Cuban military was sent by Castro to strengthen

Douglas Bravo Douglas Ignacio Bravo Mora (11 March 1932 – 31 January 2021) was a Venezuelan politician and guerrilla fighter. Biography A native of the village of Cabure in Falcón, he became involved in the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) at an early a ...

guerrillas fighting the government of

Raúl Leoni Raúl Leoni Otero (26 April 1905 – 5 July 1972) was the president of Venezuela from 1964 until 1969. He was a member of the Generation of 1928 and a charter member of the Acción Democrática party, and the first Labor minister of Venezuela ...

that ended in a major strategic loss at large rebel cost. Between 1967 and 1969, he trained rebels in the Congo. In 1975, Ochoa was sent to fight in a critical campaign against the

National Liberation Front of Angola The National Front for the Liberation of Angola (; abbreviated FNLA) is a political party and former militant organisation that fought for Angolan independence from Portugal in the war of independence, under the leadership of Holden Roberto. F ...

(FNLA) in

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, where he won the respect of both Soviet and Cuban commanders. In 1977 he was named commander of Cuban Expeditionary Forces in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

under the command of Soviet General Petrov. His successes during the

Ogaden War The Ogaden War, also known as the Ethio-Somali War (, ), was a military conflict between Somali Democratic Republic, Somalia and derg, Ethiopia fought from July 1977 to March 1978 over control of the sovereignty of the Ogaden region. Somalia ...

impressed the Soviet commanders in the field. By 1980, Ochoa was widely considered a great internationalist, and was awarded the title "Hero of the Revolution" by Fidel Castro in 1984. Within the United States

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating illicit Illegal drug trade, drug trafficking a ...

, Ochoa was known as Castro's top narcotics dealer.

Arrest and execution

Five years later, Ochoa was chosen by Defense Minister Raúl Castro to become the head of Cuba's Western Army. Since this branch of the military protects Cuba's capital city,

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

officials who were engaged in even more serious crimes: taking pay-offs from South American drug-traffickers, including

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord, narcoterrorist, and politician who was the founder and leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed the "King of Cocaine", Escobar was one of the wealthie ...

and General

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno ( , ; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator and military officer who was the ''de facto'' List of heads of state of Panama, ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He never officially serv ...

in exchange for letting them use Cuban territorial waters for drug drops and pick-ups. General Raúl Castro, who was very close to Ochoa personally, later said he pleaded with Ochoa on a number of occasions to come clean, reveal everything, so they could move forward. When Ochoa refused to cooperate, on June 12, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces announced his arrest and investigation for serious acts of corruption, dishonest use of economic resources, and abetting drug trafficking. At dawn on July 13, 1989, Ochoa was executed by a firing squad along with three senior officers of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and Ministry of the Interior (MININT), after a military court convicted them of drug smuggling and treason. Later allegations from a former Castro bodyguard claimed that Ochoa was executed, and Interior Minister Jose Abrantes sentenced to a 20-year prison term, allegedly to cover up the Castro brothers' high-up involvement in the drug smuggling trade.

Notes

External links

Cuban Armed Forces Review (No relation to Cuban Armed Forces) page on Ochoa
*
Foro Militar General (Cuban military forum)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochoa, Arnaldo 1930 births 1989 deaths People from Cacocum Cuban people of Basque descent Communist Party of Cuba politicians Cuban drug traffickers Cuban generals People of the Cuban Revolution Cuban military personnel of the Angolan Civil War Executed communists Executed military leaders Frunze Military Academy alumni 20th-century executions for treason People executed for drug offences People executed for treason against Cuba People executed by Cuba by firing squad Executed Cuban people 20th-century executions by Cuba