Leyla Express And Johnny Express Incidents

In December 1971, the freighters ''Leyla Express'' and ''Johnny Express'' were seized by Cuban gunboats. The ''Leyla Express'' was stopped in international waters off the Cuban coast on December 5; the ''Johnny Express'' was intercepted by gunboats near the island of Little Inagua in the Bahamas ten days later. Some of the crew of the ''Johnny Express'', including the captain, were injured when the gunboats fired on their vessel. The freighters both carried Panamanian flags of convenience, but belonged to the Bahama Lines corporation, based in Miami. The company was run by four brothers, Cuban exiles who had previously been involved in activities directed against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Cuba stated that both vessels were being used by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to transport weapons, explosives, and personnel to Cuba, and described the vessels as being engaged in piracy. Cuba had suspected the involvement of one of Bahama Lines's ships in shelling the Cuban village of Samá, on the northern coast of Oriente Province, a few months previously; several civilians had died in the attack. The US government of Richard Nixon and the Bahama Lines denied the accusations.

Cuba released the crew of both ships to Panamanian custody, but announced that José Villa, the captain of the ''Johnny Express'', had confessed to being an agent of the CIA, and would face trial. The US asked the Panamanian government of Omar Torrijos to negotiate his release. Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt and Manuel Noriega traveled to Cuba, where they negotiated Villa's release into Panamanian custody, in return for which criminal charges were brought against Villa in Panama, though he was released without being convicted. The success of the negotiations undertaken by Noriega were later used by him to bargain with the US government. As a consequence of the incident, the US ordered all its naval and air forces in the region to go to the aid of any ships coming under attack from Cuban vessels. A Panamanian mission which investigated the incident concluded, based on the ships' logs, that the vessels had in fact brought insurgent forces to Cuban territory, and that the Cuban government's accusations on that count were accurate.

Background

The ''Johnny Express'' and the ''Leyla Express'' were two Miami-based freighters flying Panamanian flags of convenience. They were owned by the Bahama Lines corporation, based in Miami, which also ran four other freighters. The corporation was owned by four brothers from the Babún family: all four were Cuban exiles. The ''Miami Herald'' reported that all four had been involved in activities directed against the government of Fidel Castro, while the ''New York Times'' wrote that the brothers were opposed to the Cuban government, and had aided actions against it. Among Cuban exiles in Miami, Santiago Babún, one of the brothers, was believed to have been an agent of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) while in Cuba. According to reporter John Dinges both freighters were being used by Cuban exiles to launch machine-gun attacks on Cuban government targets. In discussing the relationship between former director of Central Intelligence and US president George H. W. Bush and Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega in a 1997 biography of Bush, historian Herbert Parmet stated that the two freighters had been used to launch speed-boat attacks against Cuba.

The Cuban government believed that a boat owned by one of the brothers was responsible for shelling the Cuban village of Samá, on the northern coast of Oriente Province, in October 1971; several people were reported to have been killed in the attack. Cuban radio stations had reported that the attackers had fled on a "mother ship". On October 15 the ''Miami News'' reported that a spokesperson for José Elias de la Torriente, a Cuban exile, had claimed responsibility for the attack at Sama. The spokesperson said that the attack had been against a military base, and that it was "just the beginning" of their plans to fight the Cuban government. According to the ''New York Times'', information available to it suggested that vessels owned by the Babún brothers did not participate in the raid on Samá. Several months before December 1971, the Bahama Lines were reported to have complained to the US government that their ships were being followed by Cuban vessels. The company stated that the US Coast Guard had been notified of every incident, but that the Coast Guard had not taken any action.

Vessel seizures

On December 5, 1971, the ''Leyla Express'' was stopped by Cuban government vessels in international waters off the coast of Cuba, and escorted to the port of Baracoa. The Cuban government stated that the ship was being used to transport weapons and agents by the CIA, and added that the ''Leyla Express'' had been used to land explosives, men, and weapons on Cuban shores three times in 1968 and 1969. The Cuban government called the vessel a pirate ship, and said that the 14 members of the freighter's crew would face criminal charges.

On December 15, 1971, the ''Johnny Express'' was attacked by a Cuban gunboat, seized, and taken to a Cuban port. The attack occurred in the territorial waters of the Bahamas, near the island of Little Inagua. According to officials of the Bahama Lines, the freighter had left Port-au-Prince in Haiti the previous day. At the time of its capture, the ''Johnny Express'' was approximately from the Cuban coast. The ship was carrying a crew of 11: its captain, José Villa, was naturalized US citizen who had left Cuba as an exile.

The ''Miami Herald'' reported that Villa had an approximately three-hour-long conversation on the radio with the office of the Bahama Lines, beginning at approximately 11:35am on December 15, when Villa radioed saying he was being followed by a gunboat, in response to which he had changed course northwards. He then reported that he had been ordered to heave to; the company stated that it had asked Villa to continue on his way, because he was in international waters. At 1:31pm, Villa reported that the gunboat had opened fire, and that he himself had been wounded, adding that the "deck ascovered in blood". The ''New York Times'' later reported that Villa's wounds were serious. Further reports of firing followed, including of shots fired at the radio antenna, and of the gunboat ramming the freighter. The final report, at 2:40pm, stated that the freighter was taking on water. According to the US Coast Guard, the strafing was carried out with a machine gun. A later report, attributed to the US State Department, stated that the ''Johnny Express'' was being towed to Cuba: a January 1972 report in the ''Miami News'' stated that the ship had been escorted to Baracoa, rather than towed. The wounded crew members were transported by the Cuban gunboat to Havana

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