Bush Used Noriega to Tell Castro of Grenada: Witness

Vice President George Bush used Panamanian Gen. Manuel A. Noriega in 1983 to advise Cuban President Fidel Castro of the imminent U.S. invasion of Grenada, a Senate hearing was told today.

Jose Blandon, Noriega’s former close aide, said Bush called Noriega in the early morning, two to three hours before the Oct. 25 invasion, asking him to tell Castro that Cuba would suffer reprisals if U.S. forces had any “problems.”

Noriega passed on the warning in a phone conversation with Castro, he said.

Press reports last week quoted Blandon as making a similar statement on Bush’s alleged role. But Bush’s office categorically denied asking Noriega to pass on a message to Castro, noting that in fact Cuban troops fiercely resisted the U.S. invasion.

2nd Day of Testimony

Blandon was testifying to a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for a second day on what he calls Noriega’s criminal empire of drug and arms smuggling and money laundering.

Although there were Cuban soldiers and workers in Grenada who strongly resisted the invasion, Havana took no action to oppose the U.S. operation. The invasion toppled a leftist regime from power on the Caribbean island.

Blandon agreed with Sen. Alphonse M. D’Amato, a New York Republican, that Bush’s purpose had been to try to avoid a confrontation with Cuban troops on Grenada, adding: “I think this gesture on the part of the vice president was very positive.”

But subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) noted that the Reagan Administration refused to disclose the Grenada invasion to many U.S. officials just before it occurred while, at the same time, Castro was informed about it through Bush’s “back channel” communication.

Training for Contras

“Fidel Castro probably knew about (the invasion) before any of us,” Kerry said.

Blandon also told the panel today that Noriega met with Lt. Col. Oliver L. North twice in 1985 and agreed to provide military training for U.S.-backed Contra rebels.

Blandon, once a senior member of Panama’s intelligence apparatus, said Noriega later offered to send Panamanian soldiers inside Nicaragua to conduct “terrorist sabotage” against that country’s leftist Sandinista government.

But he said North replied that he had no authority to accept such an offer and would relay it to his superiors at the National Security Council. Blandon did not indicate whether the idea was ever put into effect.