Castro Offers Former Russian Spy Base to China

May 30, 2002
By J. Michael Waller

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has offered the sprawling Soviet-built electronic intelligence-gathering base near Lourdes, Cuba, to the Chinese government for operations against the United States, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reports.

Last October, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he would shut down the 26 square-mile facility, the largest outside the former USSR. But Castro, citing Moscow's unpaid debts to his regime, reportedly seized some of the eavesdropping technology the Russians were readying to ship back home.

Only about two-dozen Russian intelligence officers and technicians remain at the Lourdes base, where they are serving as caretakers until both sides can reach an agreement on shutting down the facility. Until recently, Moscow had about a thousand personnel at the site.

According to Izvestia, "Castro's officer to China to utilize Lourdes has been positively received by Beijing. Last autumn, a Chinese military delegation visited Cuba. The possibility of operating an electronic espionage center was discussed with Castro during the visit. According to sources, China responded positively in principle to the offer and, in fact, the Chinese have been offered a set of buildings in the Lourdes complex upon the final departure of the Russians."

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