page_title: Leyla Express and Johnny Express incidents
section_title: Reactions and negotiations
hierarchical_section_title: Leyla Express and Johnny Express incidents / Reactions and negotiations
caption_attribution_description: English: cropped version of File:Manuel Noriega mug shot.jpg
context_page_description: In December 1971, the freighters Leyla Express and Johnny Express were seized by Cuban gunboats off the coast of Cuba. The Leyla Express was stopped off the Cuban coast on December 5: the Johnny Express was intercepted by gunboats of 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 US Central Intelligence Agency to transport weapons, explosives, and personnel to Cuba, and accused the ships of piracy. Cuba had suspected the involvement of one of Bahama Lines 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.
context_section_description: The Cuban government described the actions of both freighters as acts of piracy. It stated that it would attack pirate ships regardless of the distance of the ship from Cuba, or the flag the ship was carrying. Castro criticized the "landing of weapons, organization of mercenary bands, infiltration of spies, saboteurs, [and] arm drops of all kinds," and stated that the Cuban government had been forced to spend a lot of money and resources to combat these efforts. Teófilo Babún, one of the owners of the Bahamas Lines, denied that the ships were engaged in piracy, and stated that they were commercial vessels that did not carry any weapons. A spokesperson for the US Department of State also said that the vessels had no connection to the US government. A day after the capture of the Johnny Express, the US government responded stating that it would take "all measures under international law" to protect ships in the Caribbean, including those of other nations, from Cuban attacks. According to Verne, in response to US allegations that it had engaged in piracy, the Cuban government released photographs of a fast boat carried by the Johnny Express which had been used to land weapons and men on Cuban shores. The New York Times reported that the US naval and air forces in the Caribbean had been ordered to support any vessel attacked by Cuba. US President Richard Nixon told José Villa's wife Isabel that he would do his best to get her husband released. The US issued a demand to Cuba, via the Swiss embassy in Havana, that Villa be released; Cuba did not respond to the request. 
  The crews of both ships were eventually handed over to the government of Panama. José Villa, however, initially remained in Cuban custody; he faced trial as a result of having reportedly confessed to being an agent of the CIA. The US government asked Omar Torrijos, the leader of Panama, to send a mission to Cuba to mediate the conflict. Torrijos agreed, though Cuba and Panama did not have diplomatic relations at the time. According to Dinges, at approximately the same time, the CIA station in Panama City was ordered to send Manuel Noriega on the mission as a personal emissary of Torrijos. Noriega was then a member of Torrijos government. His relationship with the US intelligence services, which had been on a case-by-case basis until then, was regularized in 1971. 
  The formal mission to Cuba was led by Rómulo Escobar Bethancourt, a communist member of Torrijos's government, but Noriega accompanied him. According to Dinges, sources within the US intelligence services stated that it was Noriega's presence which convinced Cuban leader Fidel Castro to release Villa into Panamanian custody. Historian Herbert Parmet wrote that Noriega played an important, and possibly decisive, role in the negotiations. Villa was taken to Panama, where in accordance with the agreement with Castro, charges of espionage were brought against Villa. After a delay, described by Dinges as being long enough to "save face all around", Villa was freed and allowed to return to the US.
caption: Manuel Noriega in 1989. Noriega played a crucial role in the negotiations for the release of José Villa.
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