NY Times Parrots Fake News About Spy Base in Cuba

Trump made the oil blockade on Cuba official on January 29 with an executive order that justified the measure in part because the island “hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States.”

The allegation about a Russia spy base in Cuba comes out of the blue. In recent years, U.S. politicians, media outlets and think tanks have frequently warned that China — not Russia — has spy bases on the island. (Check out our reporting debunking these claims).

Major media outlets mostly ignored the allegation of the Russia base until Tuesday, when New York Times journalist Michael Crowley wrote an article entitled “Russian Oil Shipment Puts Focus on Kremlin Spy Outpost in Cuba.”

Citing former U.S. officials and experts, Crowley writes that the Russian spy base, known as Lourdes, “bristles with antennas and other eavesdropping equipment.”

There is one problem with Crowley’s reporting: Lourdes was shuttered in 2001.

Stay tuned for more reporting from Belly of the Beast on the Russia spy base, which appears to exist only the pages of the New York Times.