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Arocena began to recruit a small elite force, many of agreed to be interviewed by the FBI. He admitted to
them veterans of the 1961 invasion, that would assas- being “Omar,” his nom de guerre as Omega 7’s leader,
sinate and bomb people and institutions deemed to be and implicated himself and several colleagues in the
pro-Castro. murder of Rodriguez and the attempted murder of
Founded on September 11, 1974, Arocena’s group Dr. Kouri. After five days, Arocena fled New York for
became known as Omega 7, after the original number Miami, where he resumed his anti-Castro activities.
of members (drawn from the Movimiento Insur- Found and arrested on July 22, 1983, he is currently
reccional Martiano [MIM] and the Cuban Nationalist serving a life term in federal prison. Information
Movement [CNM]). Omega 7 appears to have never Arocena provided led to the capture and arrest of
had more than 20 members. Most of its financial sup- several other group members, and the dissolution of
port came from these groups and wealthy Cuban busi- the group.
nessmen. However, in 1981 Arocena and a few other
See also EDUARDO AROCENA
Omega 7 members were paid by a Cuban marijuana
trafficker to conduct surveillance and other activities Further Reading
(but Omega 7 did not sell or transport any drugs). As
it operated with the tacit approval of many within Federal Bureau of Investigation. Dossier on the Omega 7
the Cuban exile community, the FBI found the group Group. October 1993. http://cuban exile.com/menu1/
!group.html.
extremely difficult to infiltrate—indeed, for several
Lubasch, Arnold H. “Cuban Exile Group Reportedly
years, the FBI thought “Omega 7” was a cover name
Planned to Kill Castro on His ’79 U.N. Trip.” New York
for the larger CNM, an impression that the CNM
Times, September 22, 1983, B1.
actively fostered.
Treaster, Joseph B. “Suspected Head of Omega 7 Terrorist
The organization made its first attack in 1975, Group Seized.” New York Times, July 23, 1983, 1.
bombing the Venezuelan consulate in New York City Treaster, Joseph B. “Weapons Seized in Apartment of
on February 1. Over the next seven years, its targets Omega 7 Suspect.” New York Times, July 24, 1983, 1.
included Soviet businesses and ships, Latin American
embassies, and pro-Castro Cuban exiles and businesses
in New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and OPERATION EAGLE CLAW
Florida. In the more than 30 attacks attributed to Omega
7, two people were killed and a few injured; property
damage was extensive, however. Its most devastating In 1980, after nearly six months of failed diplomatic
attacks were against the Cuban Mission to the United negotiations for American hostages held at the U.S.
Nations. On March 25, 1980, the group attached a embassy in Tehran, Iran, U.S. president Jimmy Carter
radio-controlled bomb to the car of Dr. Raul Roa Kouri, approved a military rescue. This mission, known as
the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations. In park- Operation Eagle Claw, failed in its first stages but
ing the car, the bomb was loosened from the undercar- profoundly influenced the military structure of Special
riage; Arocena decided not to detonate it. An Omega 7 Operations Forces.
gunman killed a Cuban attaché, Felix Garcia Rodriguez, On November 4, 1979, a crowd of about 500 mili-
on September 11, 1980. tant students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, tak-
Law enforcement agencies were beginning to ing 66 Americans hostage. The siege came two weeks
close in following the group’s bombing of the Cuban after Carter had allowed the former Shah of Iran, who
consulate in Montreal in December 1980. By 1981, was deposed during the Iranian revolution in 1978,
dissention began to fracture the Omega 7 group. into the United States for cancer treatment. Iran’s new
Chafing under Arocena’s leadership, several mem- fundamentalist leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
bers allied themselves with the more moderate Cuba called for the United States to return the Shah, as well
Independiente y Democratica (CID). In September as for the end of Western influences in Iran.
1982, FBI agents investigating the bombing in By mid-November, 13 women and African
Montreal approached Arocena, asking him to give Americans had been freed; however, the remaining 53
information about the group’s activities. Apparently hostages waited out months of failed negotiations. At
convinced that his comrades were informing on him the time, U.S. military forces, though trained for a
in an attempt to oust him from the leadership, Arocena possible conventional war with the Soviet Union, were