The General Intelligence Directorate (Spanish: Dirección General de Inteligencia, or DGI) is the main state intelligence agency of the government of Cuba. The DGI was founded in late 1961 by the Cuban Ministry of the Interior shortly after the revolutionaries took power in 1959. The DGI is responsible for all foreign intelligence collection and comprises six divisions divided into two categories, which are the Operational Divisions and the Support Divisions. Manuel "Redbeard" Piñeiro was the first director of the DGI in 1961 and his term lasted until 1964. The current head of the DGI is General Eduardo Delgado Rodriguez. Year 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Manuel Piñeiro Losada (March 12, 1934 – May 14, 1998), also known as Barbarroja (Spanish: red beard) was Cuban revolutionary who became the first head of the Cuban General Intelligence Directorate (Dirección General de Inteligencia). ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

Organizational makeup

The operational divisions comprise the following sections: The Political/Economic Intelligence Division is responsible for intelligence gathering on political figures unfriendly to the Cuban government and the foreign economic data and divided into 4 subsections:

• Eastern Europe
• North America
• Western Europe
• Africa-Asia-Latin America

The support divisions comprise the following sections: Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange),members of the Warsaw pact (light orange), and other former Communist regimes not aligned with Moscow (lightest orange). ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... The borders of Western Europe were largely defined by the Cold War. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

• Technical Support Division: responsible for communications and falsified documentation in support of clandestine operatives
• Information Division: Raw intelligence gathering
• Preparation Division: Intelligence analysis

KGB relationship

The relationship between the Soviet Union KGB and the Cuban DGI is complex and marked by times of extremely close cooperation and times of extreme competition. The Soviet Union saw the new revolutionary government in Cuba as excellent proxy agent in areas of the world where Soviet involvement was not popular on a local level. Nikolai Leninov, the KGB Chief in Mexico City, was one of the first Soviet officials to recognize Castro's potential as a revolutionary and urged the Soviet Union to strengthen ties with the new Cuban leader. Moscow saw Cuba as having far more appeal with new revolutionary movements, western intellectuals, and members of the New Left with Cuba's perceived David and Goliath Struggle against American Imperialism. Shortly after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963, Moscow invited 1,500 DGI agents, including Che Guevara, to the KGB's Moscow Center for an intensive training in intelligence operations. The KGB emblem and motto: The sword and the shield KGB (transliteration of КГБ) is the Russian-language abbreviation for Committee for State Security, (Russian: ; Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). ... Nickname: Location of Mexico City in central Mexico Coordinates: , Country Mexico Federal entity Federal District Boroughs The 16 delegaciones Founded (as Tenochtitlan) c. ... The New Left is a term used in different countries to describe left-wing movements that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s. ... David faces Goliath in single combat. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... President Kennedy in a crowded Cabinet Room during the Cuban Missile Crisis. ... Year 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ernesto Guevara de la Serna (June 14,[1] 1928 – October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, El Che or just Che was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary, medical doctor , political figure, and leader of Cuban and internationalist guerrillas. ...

Dismayed by Cuban debacles in Zaire and Bolivia as well as a perceived growing independence from Moscow, the Soviets sought a more active role in shaping the DGI. In 1970 a team of KGB advisors led by General Viktor Semyonov was sent to the DGI to purge it of officers and agents considered anti-Soviet by the KGB. Manuel Piñeiro, becoming increasingly upset at the co-optation of the DGI by the Soviets, was removed during the 1970 purge and replaced with the pro-Soviet José Méndez Cominches as head of the DGI. Semyonov also took this opportunity to oversee a rapid expansion of the DGI's western operations. By 1971, 70% of the Cuban diplomats in London were actually DGI agents and proved invaluable to Moscow after the British government's mass expulsion of Soviet intelligence officers. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1962 the Soviet Union opened its largest foreign SIGINT (signal intelligence) site in Lourdes Cuba, approximately 30 miles (50 km) outside of Havana. The Lourdes facility is reported to cover a 28 square mile (73 km²) area with 1,000-1,500 Soviet and then Russian engineers, technicians, and military personnel working at the base. Those familiar with the Lourdes facility have confirmed that the base has multiple groups of tracking dishes and its own satellite system, with some groups used to intercept telephone calls, faxes, and computer communications, in general, and with other groups used to cover targeted telephones and devices. [1] Year 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... SIGINT stands for SIGnals INTelligence, which is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether by radio interception or other means. ... The Lourdes SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) facility, (23°0001N 82°2856W), located near Havana Cuba, is the largest facility of its kind operated by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service or FIS, outside of Russia. ... Nickname: (Spanish) City of Columns Position of Havana in the Americas Coordinates: , Country Cuba Province Ciudad de La Habana Municipalities 15 Founded 1515a Government  - Mayor Juan Contino Aslán Area  - City 721. ...

The Soviets also collaborated with the DGI to assist CIA defector Philip Agee in the publication of the Covert Action Information Bulletin. Funding for the bulletin came from the KGB, while the DGI ghost wrote many of the articles. The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Philip Burnett Franklin Agee (born July 19, 1935) is a former CIA employee and author who wrote the controversial book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary (1975)[1] [2] He resigned from the CIA in 1968. ...

Operations abroad

Throughout its 40-year history the DGI has been actively involved in aiding revolutionary movements primarily in Central America, South America, Africa and the Middle East. There have also been allegations that Cuban DGI agents interrogated and tortured US POW's captured in Vietnam and held at the infamous Cu Loc (more commonly referred to as the Hanoi Hilton) POW camp in North Vietnam. The Hanoi Hilton in a 1970 aerial surveillance photo. ... The Hanoi Hilton in a 1970 aerial surveillance photo. ... The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN), or less commonly, Vietnamese Democratic Republic (Vietnamese: Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa), also known as North Vietnam, was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi, September 2nd1945 and was recognized by the Peoples Republic of China and the...

Chile

Shortly after the election of Salvador Allende in 1971, the DGI worked extremely closely to strengthen Allende's position. The Cuban DGI station chief Luis de Ona even married Salvador Allende's daughter Beatrice. The DGI organized an international brigade that organized and coordinated the actions of thousands foreign leftist that had moved into Chile shortly after Allende's election. These individuals ranged from Cuban DGI agents, who were phillips in charge of reorganizing Allende's security services, Soviet, Czech and North Korean military instructors and arms suppliers, to hard-line Spanish and Portuguese Communist Party members. Salvador Allende Gossens[1] (July 26, 1908 – September 11, 1973) was President of Chile from November 1970 until his suicide during the coup détat of September 11, 1973. ...

Grenada

Shortly after a bloodless coup in Grenada, led by Maurice Bishop, the Cuban DGI sent advisors to the Island nation to assist Maurice Bishop. The DGI was also instrumental in convincing the Soviet Union to aid the island nation, aid which Grenadian General Hudson Austin called essential to the success of the Caribbean anti-imperialist movement. The DGI coordinated 780 Cuban soldiers, engineers, and intelligence operatives. Maurice Bishop Maurice Rupert Bishop (May 29, 1944 – October 19, 1983) was a Grenadian revolutionary leader. ... Hudson Austin (born April 26, 1938) was a Grenadian military leader. ...

Nicaragua

Beginning in 1967 the DGI had begun to establish ties with various Nicaraguan revolutionary organizations. The Soviets were upset at what they saw as Cuba upstaging the KGB in Nicaragua. By 1970 the DGI had managed to train hundreds of Sandinistan guerilla leaders and had vast influence over the organization. In 1969 the DGI had financed and organized an operation to free the jailed Sandinistan leader Carlos Fonseca from his prison in Costa Rica. Fonseca was captured shortly after the jail break, but after a plane carrying executives from the United Fruit Company was hijacked by the FSLN, he was freed and allowed to travel to Cuba. For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Carlos Fonseca Amador (born June 23, 1936 - died November 7, 1976), a revolutionary, teacher and a founder of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional ( FSLN, Sandinista National Liberation Front), was assassinated by the Guardia Nacional three years before the FSLN took power in Nicaragua. ... The United Fruit Company (1899–1970) was a major American corporation that traded tropical fruit (primarily bananas and pineapples) grown in Third World plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. ...

DGI chief Manuel Piñeiro commented that "of all the countries in Latin America, the most active work being carried out by us is in Nicaragua".

The DGI, with Fidel Castro's personal blessing, also collaborated with the FSLN on the botched assassination attempt of Turner Shelton, the American ambassador in Managua and a close friend to the Somoza family. The FSLN managed to secure several hostages exchanging them for safe passage to Cuba and a one million dollar ransom. After the successful ousting of Anastasio Somoza, DGI involvement in the new Sandinistan government expanded rapidly. An early indication of the central role that the DGI would play in the Cuban-Nicaraguan relationship a meeting in Havana on July 27, 1979, at which diplomatic ties between the two countries were re-established after over 25 year. Julián López Díaz, a prominent DGI agent, was named Ambassador to Nicaragua. Cuban military and DGI advisors initially brought in during the Sandinistan insurgency, would swell to over 2,500 and operated at all levels of the new Nicaraguan government. Sandinista defector Alvaro Baldizón confirmed that Cuban influence in Nicaragua's Interior Ministry (MINT) was more extensive that was widely believed at the time and Cuban "advice" and "observations" were treated as though they were orders. Somoza was the name of an influential political dynasty in Nicaragua. ... Anastasio (Tachito) Somoza Debayle (December 5, 1925 – September 17, 1980) was officially the forty-fourth and forty-fifth President of Nicaragua from May 1, 1967 to May 1, 1972 and from December 1, 1974 to July 17, 1979. ... is the 208th day of the year (209th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

Puerto Rico

With the repression and destruction of left win groups by the US government, like the Weather Underground and Black Panthers,^{[citation needed]} the DGI sought to aid the growing Puerto Rican separatist movement. Dr. Daniel James testified before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee that the DGI, working through Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, organized and trained the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) in 1974. In October 1974, Ríos was arrested and charged with terrorist acts against American hotels in Puerto Rico. Authorities found a substantial amount of Cuban government documents and secret codes in his possession. Shortly after his release on bail he disappeared but was credited with the 1979 unification of Puerto Rico's five principal terrorist groups into the Cuban-directed National Revolutionary Command (CRN). The term Weather Underground may refer to: Weatherman (organization), a radical leftist student activist group in the 1960s The Weather Underground, a film based on the radical left organization of the same name The term can also refer to: Weather Underground, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based weather service providing domestic... The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a revolutionary Black nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and grew to national prominence before falling apart due to factional rivalries stirred up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. ... Filiberto Ojeda Ríos (April 26, 1933 – September 23, 2005) was the Responsible General of the Boricua Popular Army, or Ejército Popular Boricua – Los Macheteros, a clandestine paramilitary, organization, considered by United States law enforcement agencies to be a terrorist organization, based on the island of Puerto Rico, with... The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (en: Armed Forces of National Liberation or Armed Commandos of Liberation) but better known by its initials in Spanish, FALN, is a Puerto Rican clandestine terrorist group that advocates complete independence for Puerto Rico. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

According to the former chief investigator of the U.S. Senate, Alfonso Tarabochia, the DGI began directing criminal activities in Puerto Rico and the eastern and midwestern United States as early as 1974. That June, the secretary general of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Juan Marí Bras, met in Havana with Fidel Castro to consolidate party solidarity. The Puerto Rican Socialist Party -- or Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño (PSP for its abbreviation in Spanish) -- was a Puerto Rican political party that existed from the 1971 to 1993 and advocated independence and a socialist government for Puerto Rico. ... Juan Mari Bras (born December 2, 1925 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican independence advocate who founded the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. Mari Bras father was an active member of the independence movement of Puerto Rico and often took his son to political meetings and rallies. ...

Beginning in September 1974, the incidence of bombings by Puerto Rican extremists, particularly the FALN, escalated sharply. Targets included U.S. companies and public places. The FALN was responsible for a bombing that killed four and wounded dozens at the historic Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan on January 25, 1975. Later that year, Fidel Castro sponsored the First World Solidarity Conference for the Independence of Puerto Rico in Havana. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The current Fraunces Tavern restaurant on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan 1. ... Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, coterminous with New York County. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Ríos was murdered by the FBI on Friday, September 23, 2005 in a rural village in the town of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico.

Camp Mantanzas

Camp Mantanzas is a training facility operated by the DGI and is located outside Havana since early 1962. Famous because of their "Vietnamese tactics training". Many notorious groups and individuals have received or provided training to various revolutionary movements through out the world. Some of these include:

• The Eritrean Liberation Front
• The Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN)
• The Basque Separatist Movement (ETA)
• The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)
• The Palestine National Liberation Movement (FATAH)
• The Irish Republican Army (IRA)
• The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)
• The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
• The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Puerto Rico) (FALN)
• The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Venezuela) (FALN)

Wikipedia does not yet have a page called Eritrean Liberation Front. ... Ejército de Liberación Nacional (usually abbreviated to ELN), or National Liberation Army, is a revolutionary, Marxist, insurgent guerrilla group that has been operating in several regions of Colombia since 1964. ... or ETA (Basque for Basque Homeland and Freedom; IPA pronunciation: [) is a paramilitary Basque nationalist organization. ... The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–Peoples Army, in Spanish Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia–Ejército del Pueblo, also known by the acronym of FARC or FARC-EP is a communist revolutionary and illegally armed terrorist organization in Colombia. ... Fatah (Arabic: الفتح) al-fatah—an reverse acronym from arabic words Harakat alTahrir alwatani alFilastini (literally: the movement for liberation of the Palestinian homeland)—is a Palestinian faction founded in 1959 by Yasser Arafat who, until his death, was head of the Palestinian Authority. ... This article is about the historical army of the Irish Republic (1919–1922) which fought in the Irish War of Independence 1919–21, and the Irish Civil War 1922–23. ... The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement or Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA) was an insurgent guerrilla movement active in Peru from 1984 to 1997. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN) was a Puerto Rican clandestine terrorist group that advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. ... Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Armed Forces of National Liberation, FALN) was a Venezuelan guerrilla group formed to foment revolution against the government under Rómulo Betancourt. ...

External links

• Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) Ministry of the Interior [2]
• Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI), FAS [3]
• Cuban Armed Forces
• Foro Militar General (Cuban Military and Intelligence Forum)

See also

Cuba Portal