Cuban general of the African expeditionary campaigns
As commander of the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia from 1977, he directed the Jijiga counter-offensive that, with Soviet military advisers, broke the Somali army. Sources date the recapture of Jijiga to 4 or 5 March 1978.
Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez (1930–1989) was a divisional general of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and a Hero of the Republic of Cuba. Born in Cacocum, he joined Column 2 under Camilo Cienfuegos in 1958 and fought in the Sierra Maestra, helped defeat the Bay of Pigs invasion, and sat on the Communist Party of Cuba's Central Committee for more than twenty years. He fought against the FNLA in Luanda in 1975 and in 1977 took command of the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War. Awarded the Hero title in 1984, he was convicted of drug trafficking and treason in 1989 and executed by firing squad on 13 July. Sources give his second given name as Tomás or Teodomiro and his age at death as 58–59 or 57.
Also known as: Arnaldo Teodomiro Ochoa Sánchez
Activities and affiliations
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1957–1989
Cuba state institutionsCommander of the Expeditionary Force in Ethiopia, Head of the Mission in AngolaMain
Military command -
1965–1989
Military command
Career Timeline
- 1958Joined Column 2 under Camilo Cienfuegos and fought in the Sierra Maestra.
- 1961Fought against Brigade 2506 at the Bay of Pigs.
- 1975Fought against the FNLA in Luanda, Angola.
- 1977–1978Commanded the Cuban expeditionary force in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War.
- 1984Awarded the title Hero of the Republic of Cuba by Fidel Castro.
- 1987–1988Headed the Cuban military mission in Angola and took part in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.
- 1989Tried on drug-trafficking and treason charges and executed by firing squad on 13 July.
Related historical events
- 1959–1961Cuban Revolution and socialist turnCuban officer defending the revolutionIn 1961, he fought Brigade 2506 during the Bay of Pigs invasion.
- 1969–1976Somali military rule and the socialist declarationCuban expeditionary commander who broke the Somali line at JijigaHe commanded the 15,000-strong Cuban force that defeated the Somali army at Jijiga in March 1978.
- 1975–1977Angolan independence and formation of MPLA ruleCuban general who fought the FNLA in LuandaIn 1975, he fought against the FNLA in Luanda, Angola.
The 1989 political conflict and the contested trial
Ochoa is recorded as the most critical figure within Cuba's leadership in the period around the 1989 trial. Sources report that he said, "These two have been sending people to die for 30 years. They are occupying power and taking the money," and that he complained that veteran combatants had been abandoned. He also differed over the handling of Operation Carlota and the negotiated withdrawal in the Angolan civil war, and wanted to discuss Cuba's future and economic management reforms with Fidel Castro. Some analysts hold that his group was secretly plotting to overthrow Castro and install a new political system, though the same source judges it unlikely he was popular enough to threaten the leadership.
The moment coincided with the impact of Soviet perestroika and glasnost on Cuba. In April 1989 Gorbachev visited Cuba and told Fidel Castro that perestroika meant the end of subsidies for Cuba, and the Ministry of the Interior contained no small number of reform-minded figures dubbed "perestroikos." Raúl Castro had distrusted Ochoa's independence since 1970 and reportedly disliked his sympathies for the Soviet reforms in particular.
The character of the trial remains contested in the sources. The official announcement was drug trafficking and treason, and the prosecution alleged that he and his co-defendants conspired to move six tons of cocaine through Cuba for 3.4 million dollars. It is pointed out, however, that the drug-trafficking offence under article 190 of the 1989 Cuban penal code did not carry the death penalty, the maximum being 15 years' imprisonment. The accused were held with almost no contact with their lawyers or families, the assigned defence lawyers were Interior Ministry officers, and after their self-incrimination no defence was presented. At trial he said, "I believe I betrayed the fatherland, and I tell you in all honesty, treason is paid for with one's life." A United Nations tribunal declared the trial arbitrary from beginning to end, and the Spanish journalist José Manuel Martín Medem argued the treason charge was a fabrication to justify the execution. Appeals for commutation came from Pope John Paul II, Amnesty International, the Communist Party of Spain and Comisiones Obreras, among others; international reactions were few, and all asked Castro to commute the sentence.
Ochoa was stripped of his rank as divisional general, the title Hero of the Republic of Cuba, his party membership and Central Committee seat, and his seat in the National Assembly of People's Power. On 7 July 1989 the Special Military Tribunal passed the death sentence; the appeal was denied on the 8th, and the following day the Council of State unanimously upheld the death penalty. He was executed by firing squad at dawn on 13 July at Baracoa beach. The nature and motives of the trial remain disputed among sources, and this entry does not settle the question either way.