6 Top Cuban Security Chiefs Quit in Scandal

Six of the top officials of Cuba’s police and state security apparatus have resigned under pressure and army officers have been appointed to replace at least two of them in the latest twist to the country’s drug smuggling scandal, the government announced today.

The sweeping changes at the Ministry of Interior were disclosed on the front page of the official newspaper Granma a day after four former military officers, including revolutionary hero Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez, were executed for their roles in the scandal.

Four top Interior Ministry officials, including Chief of Intelligence Gen. German Barreiro, resigned along with two departmental deputies, Granma said.

Gen. Roberto Gonzalez was fired as chief of the Department of Immigration, it said.

A Cuban official called the shake-up “part of a general house-cleaning at the ministry.”

‘Deficiencies’ Cited

Granma said the resignations, handed in Thursday, were due “to deficiencies committed by the leadership of this institution which gave impunity during more than two years to a group of officers of the Department MC.”

During a four-day trial earlier this month it was revealed that Department MC had cooperated with international drug traffickers by allowing them to use Cuban territory as a transshipment point for smuggling cocaine to the United States.

Two of the four who were executed, former Col. Antonio de la Guardia and former Maj. Amado Padron, were Ministry of Interior officials.