Miami Herald
Feb. 13, 1980. p. 4b
Dan Williams and Ileana Oroza
Herald Staff Writers
Hialeah pastor Manuel Espinosa Tuesday, continuing his charges of “penetration” of Cuban government intelligence agents in South Florida, called the Continental National Bank of Miami the “greatest center of economic spying” for the Fidel Castro government.
He called one of its top officers, Bernardo Benes, an agent of the Cuban government and “the brain” behind Castro’s financial espionage in South Florida to gather intelligence on the Cuban exile community.
Espinosa made his accusations during a press conference, the third in two weeks, as part of his self-proclaimed mission to unmask “agents and collaborators” of the Cuban government in the United States.
During the two-hour conference at his converted-warehouse church in Hialeah, Espinosa said he had taken Castro intelligence agents to the house of Max Lesnik, publisher of Replica magazine, to deliver messages from the Cuban government. The conference was broadcast live on Spanish-language radio in Miami.
Espinosa directed his strongest accusations against Benes. He charged that Benes – who along with Espinosa was one organizers of the exile dialogue with the Cuban government – had met in Panama with top Cuban government officials in 1977. And Espinosa claimed Benes accepted free trips to Cuba from a seafood company that bought seafood from Cuba and exported it to Miami.
Espinosa produced copies of travel vouchers showing that during 1978 Benes and Continental National Bank chairman Charles Dascal had traveled to Panama at the expense of the Panamanian seafood company.
However, throughout his discourse Espinosa referred not to Charles Dascal, but to a George or Jorge Dascal. No one by that name holds a position at Continental National. Continental National, a Latin-owned bank, is Florida’s 30th largest with nearly $50 million in deposits.
Espinosa claimed the Panamian company, Imperial Seafood Corp., bought Cuban seafood and exported it to Miami. He charged that the Cuban seafood was bought by Pasco’s Seafood Inc., a Hialeah company.
“There are the thousands of dollars. . . no, the millions of dollars in seafood that Fidel Castro is stealing from the Cuban people . . . to use for subversion,” Espinosa said.
Espinosa also charged that Benes was aware of Imperial’s dealing with Cuban seafood and that Pasco’s Seafood had a bank account in Continental Bank.
“I will not comment publicly about myself or my bank,” said Benes, vice chairman of Continental National. During 1978, Benes engaged in his own shuttle diplomacy to help establish a Cuban exile dialogue with the Fidel Castro government. During that period, it has been reported, he met with Cuban officials in Panama, Havana, Kingston and other cities.
“I would be very happy to go to the authorities that would like to know about our activities, but I will not comment on Espinosa’s statements,” he said.
Espinosa said he would offer documents that would substantiate his accusations against Benes and Continental bank. But he produced no documentation supporting his charge that Imperial buys seafood from Cuba.
Flavio Mora, president of Imperial Seafood in Panama, denied that his company had ever imported seafood from Cuba or ever exported anything to Pasco’s Seafood.
“We have to present certificates that establish that al our exportable products are Panamanian products,” Mora said.
Mora acknowledged having paid Benes’s fare to Panama for “business purposes” and stated he had business relationships with the banker and the company had an account with the Continental bank in Miami.
“When we began, [Benes] was going to advise me on sales in Miami. . . but that type of business never came through,” he said.
Manuel Chaves, president of Pasco’s Seafood, confirmed he has an account at Continental, said he had never heard of Imperial Seafood.
“We buy our seafood through companies in Miami, many of which buy Panamanian seafood,” he said. “But we don’t buy direct from Panama.”
Espinosa pointed out that Pasco’s once employed Salvador Aldereguia, whom Espinosa has called an “agent” of the Cuban government. But he did not link Aldereguia directly in the alleged seafood transaction. Aldereguia could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Espinosa said his comments on Replica publisher Lesnik were prompted by questions at the previous press conferences about whether he was “trying to save him [Lesnik].”
“I went to his house twice [with Cuban government agents],” said Espinosa, “and he was friendly and in front of me, anti-communist.”
But, said the pastor, on one occasion a Cuban government official asked Espinosa to tell Lesnik to “cover Fidel Castro’s visit to the United States in a serous manner.” On another occasion, Espinosa said, a Cuban government official gave him a cigar box to take to Lesnik as a thank-you gift. The reason, said Espinosa, was that Lesnik had tipped off the Cuban government on a murder plot against Espinosa.
Lesnik would not comment to The Herald. Instead he said he would respond to Espinosa’s charges in the next edition of his weekly Spanish-language newspaper Replica. “I will answer him point by point then,” he said.
During the press conference, Espinosa, -- who until two weeks ago was an outspoken supporter of the exile dialogue with Fidel Castro and a fierce antagonist of militant anti-Castro organizations – was flanked by Armando Lopez Estrada and Jorge “Bombillo” Gonzalez. Lopez Estrada is the former military chief of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association and Gonzalez is the military chief of the Insurrectional Revolutionary Movement, an anti-Castro exile group.
A spokesman for the FBI in Miami said that the agency is “looking into” Espinosa’s allegations. But the spokesman declined to comment on reports that agents already were interviewing Miami residents named by Espinosa.
“The biggest problem is guilt by association,” said the FBI spokesman. “Just to be seen with some people who might be labeled agents [of Castro] does not necessarily make someone guilty of being a collaborator.”