Castro to Ochoa, During His Rise to General the Decade Before His Execution.

Circa 1970's Autograph letter signed by Fidel Castro to General Ochoa, who later would become the fall guy to drug and diamond smuggling and eventually be executed by Castro. Three page autograph letter signed, 6" x 6.5", penned on versos by Castro in Spanish. Signed by Castro as "Fidel", undated however the content would place the letter as circa 1975. Staple holes to upper left corner with the last page having the top blank edge removed appearing as though the letter was torn and removed from a pad. Else in fine condition with clean paper, and vibrant strong ink. Accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity by PSA/DNA.

Written during a period of Cuba's active involvement in the conflict between South Africa and Angola, Castro's letter touches upon several concurrent regimes and events. During this era, Cuban General Ochoa rose to a position effectively third in command. In 1975, Ochoa was sent to fight in a critical campaign against the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), where he won the respect of both Soviet and Cuban commanders. In 1977 he was named commander of Cuban Expeditionary Forces in Ethiopia under the command of Soviet General Petrov. By 1980, Ochoa was widely considered a great internationalist and in 1984 was awarded the title "Hero of the Revolution" by Fidel Castro. Five years later, Ochoa was chosen by Defense Minister Raul Castro to become the head of Cuba's Western Army. Since this branch of the military protects Cuba's capital city, Havana, and its top leaders and installations, the position would have made him the third most powerful military figure on the island, after Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and General Raul Castro. Shortly thereafter, when what was expected to be a routine background check prior to the announcement of his appointment, the government accused Ochoa of corruption, which included, but was not limited to, the sale of diamonds and ivory from Angola and the misappropriation of weapons in Nicaragua. These charges were well known and given by the Castros behind closed doors. As the investigation continued, links were found to other military and Ministry of the Interior officials who were engaged in even more serious crimes. General Raul 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, 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. “Fidel and Raúl handled everything well because in the end they achieved their objective — to survive,” said Sánchez. “Ochoa, who could have fingered Raúl, was executed. And Abrantes, who could have fingered Fidel, died in prison. Done.”

However the important letter offered here would have been written by Castro during the rise of Ochoa within the Cuban government:

"Ochoa:

It is very important detail information of our Brazabille meeting that you sent. It is worth my appreciation your friend's gesture being that the others gave the message. Thank your friend on my behalf. Also, tell him that in my opinion, it is disgusting the weakness shown by Van-Dunem handling the South Africans. We beg him to influence in any way he can so the angolan delegation keeps a strong and brave position in the corresponding negotiations of the actual correlation of forces otherwise the sacrifices we have done will be useless.

Insist in the necessity of the Pechora for the South and explain our position to show Pacavira without leaving a copy of this communication to Congo, we have informed Bindal.

Greetings,

Fidel"

A superb example which is reflective of several events of unrest and revolution within not only South Africa, but also the countries which surreptitiously backed the movements, the Soviet Union, the United States and Cuba.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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