Antonio Boscara person
also: Bascara, Boscaro, Bascaro, Basquero, Vazcarro, Basqueiro
Explore in graph → Export claims (CSV) ↓
Related entities (most co-mentioned)
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Claims (6)
CIA trained
Antonio Boscara book_quoted
“A swashbuckling Cuban pilot, meaning Cuban exile, who'd once been trained with. And that's why these articles are so misleading. When you read these things, you're thinking it's a Cuba pilot like Castro Cuba. And it's not. It's a Cuban exil…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 22:55
Nicholas Geeker prosecuted
Antonio Boscara book_quoted
“left wondering, should an ailing old man who has spent more than three decades in prison for a serious but nonviolent crime be allowed to die behind bars? Even the lawman who put him there isn't sure. Nicholas Geeker, who was the U.S. attor…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 27:31
Jose Luis Acosta recruited
Antonio Boscara book_quoted
“Jose Luis Acosta has an explanation. The charismatic young kingpin who recruited Bascaro was also sentenced to 60 years, but he got out in 1994 after serving little more than 12. The reason Acosta said was that he cut deals with federal age…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 28:21
Antonio Boscara member_of
Operation Pluto host_asserted
“1,400 other recruits were stationed there in April of 1961 when they moved to Nicaragua and launched the Bay of Pigs invasion. It failed in less than one day before Basqueiro's fighter got off the ground. He and others who remained were sen…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 33:22
Jorge Acosta Velasco trafficked
Antonio Boscara host_asserted
“He was just a government. They put them all on their payroll. We know this by now. By then, Boscaro had divorced. He wanted to do more to help his children financially. That is why he said he welcomed the introduction to Acosta, who was loo…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 34:48
Fidel Castro attempted_assassination_of
Antonio Boscara host_asserted
“fought to repel them, taking reconnaissance photos of Castro's training site in Mexico and supporting counterintelligence operations when the rebels landed into Cuba in 1956 and set up guerrilla strongholds in the mountains. Vazcarro flew t…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner LIVE RESEARCH INTO OPERATION GLADIO @ 32:01
Mentions (35)
▶ 22:22
pot smuggler deserved to die in prison in Miami. Let's see if we check the view, the original article so we can get a date. Um, this is 2016, um, written in, um, the location it's written by John, um, Schmutt, Smup, however you say his last…
▶ 22:55
A swashbuckling Cuban pilot, meaning Cuban exile, who'd once been trained with. And that's why these articles are so misleading. When you read these things, you're thinking it's a Cuba pilot like Castro Cuba. And it's not. It's a Cuban exil…
▶ 23:18
stopped inside a little Havana jewelry store that served at the crossroads of the city's criminal underworld. The shop owner, a fellow Bay of Pigs exile, was a friend of theirs from their CIA days, whose customers included some of the city'…
▶ 23:48
could help. Later, over dinner, the young man, also a Cuban immigrant, but two decades younger, invited him to join their operation. Do you have the guts to come with me, Bascara remembered the man asking. That is how Bascara, a former mili…
▶ 24:12
and became a target in America's escalating war on drugs. Arrested in 1980 and convicted of importing more than 600,000 pounds of Colombian marijuana into the southeastern United States, Bascaro has been behind bars ever since. With 36 year…
▶ 24:39
Everyone was convicted with him, including the man who hired him, went free years ago. The one exception is a former co-defendant who is serving a life sentence for the shooting of two American drug agents in Colombia. Quote, I made a mista…
▶ 25:08
And President Obama offers clemency to hundreds of drug offenders serving long prison sentence. And as marijuana has become a legal crop in some states, the decades old smuggling case. Yeah, this isn't growing marijuana for medicinal purpos…
▶ 25:37
Bascaro's story has gone unnoticed in large part because he does not fit the typical profile of a war on drugs casualty. He was not a street level dealer pulled into a business as a way to feed himself or his family or his drug addiction. H…
▶ 26:05
before the explosion in violent crime and the rise of mandatory minimum sentences, when many politicians and policymakers favored decriminalization of marijuana. And it offers a glimpse into one of the world's key tools in the drug war, per…
▶ 26:34
or you stay in jail. Bascaro's one piece of good fortune is that he got busted before federal laws restricted the amount of good time credit inmates could receive. He was sentenced to 60 years, but because he still falls under the old rules…
▶ 27:02
case was too old to be covered under recent reforms. He also has been repeatedly denied clemency. Obama's program, which was commuted more sentences than that of his 11 predecessors combined, turned him down in August without explanation. B…
▶ 27:31
left wondering, should an ailing old man who has spent more than three decades in prison for a serious but nonviolent crime be allowed to die behind bars? Even the lawman who put him there isn't sure. Nicholas Geeker, who was the U.S. attor…
▶ 27:52
pointed out that the smugglers handled only marijuana and not cocaine, heroin, drugs that drove a long wave of brutal violence in the 80s and 90s. Many cocaine and heroin offenders have received early freedom under Obama's program. With wha…
▶ 28:21
Jose Luis Acosta has an explanation. The charismatic young kingpin who recruited Bascaro was also sentenced to 60 years, but he got out in 1994 after serving little more than 12. The reason Acosta said was that he cut deals with federal age…
▶ 28:50
Prosecutors in turn persuaded judges to shorten his time in prison. He said he tried to get Boscaro to do the same, but his former partner refused. I'm very sorry he's still in prison, Acosta said. He's been in too long. I tried to get him …
▶ 29:16
if you start cooperating with them, then they have their hooks in you. So this is Acosta, this guy here with the beard, and that's Bascaro. Mary Price, the General Counsel of Families Against Mandatory Minimums and an advocate of compassion…
▶ 29:47
who was just as guilty but became an informant. Is the fact that Basquero didn't cooperate worth 28 years? It's not. Nothing justifies that difference. Basquero said he does not regret refusing to testify or provide information against othe…
▶ 30:14
I don't believe in using somebody to be in a better position. But he does lament the hole he's left in the lives of his three children and 11 grandchildren. I feel sorry for my family, he said. Aicha, I'm not sure how you pronounce her name…
▶ 30:42
in Pennsylvania, said she believed he was driven to drug smuggling by his desire to provide for his children after his parents divorced. As the decades passed, she said, Boscarro became consumed with reuniting, ending every conversation and…
▶ 31:07
raising awareness on his case online and enlisting support of his Old Bay of Pig buddies. I know my dad did something, but whatever he did, he didn't deserve to serve 36 years. In person, Boscaro could pass as a harmless grandfather, his kh…
▶ 31:36
wearing chunky orthopedic shoes. He talks a lot about the glory days. I always wanted to fly, he said. He had made a decision as a young man to quit medical school and become a pilot in the Cuban Navy. That was under the rule of Batista, th…
▶ 32:01
fought to repel them, taking reconnaissance photos of Castro's training site in Mexico and supporting counterintelligence operations when the rebels landed into Cuba in 1956 and set up guerrilla strongholds in the mountains. Vazcarro flew t…
▶ 32:29
He said he told Rayol, if you want to kill me, kill me, but I don't switch sides. To this day, he says he can't understand why Rayol Castro didn't call his bluff. After Fidel Castro took power and Batista fled the country in 1959, Bascaro s…
▶ 32:58
He traveled for a few months, eventually coming into contact with the CIA, which was everywhere in Uruguay, which was recruiting former Cuban military members in a clandestine effort to topple Castro. He and the others were brought to Miami…
▶ 33:22
1,400 other recruits were stationed there in April of 1961 when they moved to Nicaragua and launched the Bay of Pigs invasion. It failed in less than one day before Basqueiro's fighter got off the ground. He and others who remained were sen…
▶ 33:50
They married and he found work, first flying crop dusting planes and later a pilot for tourist companies and wealthy businessmen. His Bay of Pig contacts in Miami invited him to join them for other covert operations, but he declined, tellin…
▶ 34:48
He was just a government. They put them all on their payroll. We know this by now. By then, Boscaro had divorced. He wanted to do more to help his children financially. That is why he said he welcomed the introduction to Acosta, who was loo…
▶ 35:45
It was enriching bankers and local law enforcement authorities who chose to look the other way. Bascaro was among several Bay of Pigs veterans who found their past experience as clandestine operatives useful. It was exciting, he said. I was…
▶ 36:15
Cuban exiles, rural haulers, corrupt lawyers, and suntan lotion distributor. Bascaro says he never actually touched any of the marijuana, strictly sticking mainly to logistics and occasionally observing the unloading of shipments. He estima…
▶ 36:43
persuaded the younger man to move to Guatemala where they started legitimate side businesses together. Bascaro bought a ranch in Guatemala and a home in Miami where he brought his children during school vacations. He partied too, but genera…
▶ 37:43
In February of 80, Bascaro was taken into custody in Guatemala and sent to Georgia, where he was convicted of marijuana possession. He was then sent to Florida, where he refused his offers of immunity from further prosecution if he'd tell a…
▶ 38:10
Bascaro remained resolute in his stand against helping authorities. He declined to parlay his smuggling connections and declined to serve as a witness when he saw wrongdoing behind bars, an act of self-preservation that aligned with his mor…
▶ 38:40
cocaine. He was recaptured four years later and then was released in 2002. Bascaro focused on less compromising routes out of prison. He amassed good behavior credit and tried repeatedly to appeal the length of his sentence. He applied for …
▶ 39:08
He began to wonder if there was something in his files he didn't know about, a black mark. Bascaro's hope turned to desperation. After completing just about every education and vocational program available to him, he says he now spends his …
▶ 39:37
Acosta, for his part, says he no longer harbors any resentment to his old friend. That was a long time ago, Acosta said. I don't hate him. I'm here to help him. If I can in any way, get out of there. But obviously he hasn't helped him. So t…