Through two days of testimony, Major General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez sat with his head bowed, absently fingering his uniform, his downcast eyes glazed with an expression that suggested dejection or resignation. He neither smiled when the tribunal of 47 generals and admirals praised his past acts of military valor in places as far-flung as Angola and Ethiopia nor frowned when it branded him a traitor and called for his execution. When Ochoa finally rose to speak, he denied none of the charges: consorting with international drug dealers, illicitly trafficking in everything from cocaine and diamonds to ivory and sugar, shaming the Cuban revolution with acts of high treason. "I betrayed our country, and one pays for treason with one's life," Ochoa said. "If the death sentence comes, which of course could mean the firing squad, I promise you that my last thoughts will be of Fidel and this great revolution."
Thus ended the most sensational corruption scandal to hit Cuba since Fidel Castro seized power three decades ago. But the titillating proceeding raised more questions than it answered. On the one hand, the hearing seemed to signal Castro's determination to crack down on official corruption and take a leading role in stanching the tide of drugs that courses through Latin America and washes up on North American shores. On the other hand, the charges aired in the hearing made a mockery of Castro's repeated insistence that Cuba has an "unimpeachable record" when it comes to drugs. Despite solid evidence that drug-laden planes and boats have traversed Cuban waterways and airspace for years, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other U.S. agencies have no hard proof that the Cuban government ever sanctioned the illicit traffic. By nabbing such high-level comrades in the narcotics net, Castro could not help prompting such questions as whether -- and for how long -- he had turned a blind eye to the trafficking.
The corruption case unfolded with suspicious speed. Ochoa and six other military and Interior Ministry officials were arrested in early June. Ten days later, the Communist Party daily Granma gave a stunningly detailed account, , accusing the seven men of pocketing $3.4 million for helping Colombia's infamous Medellin cartel transport six tons of cocaine to Florida. By the time Ochoa's hearing was convened two weeks later with all the haste and splash of the ongoing scapegoat trials in China, it was a foregone conclusion that this popular and much decorated military officer would be found guilty. Ochoa's court-martial began last Friday, and all that remains now is the firing squad or an eleventh-hour display of leniency on Castro's part.