Cuban Agencies
America Department (DA) / Central
Committee
Communist Party of Cuba
Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) / Ministry of the Interior
Comando de Missiones Especiales
Comando Tropas Especiales
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America Department (DA) /
Central Committee |
| In December 1974 the independent National Liberation Directorate [DLN] was reorganized into the America Department (DA) under the Communist Party of Cuba Centra Committee. The DA centralized control over covert Cuban activities for supporting national liberation movements and the efforts of regimes such as those of Nicaragua and Grenada. This DA was responsible for planning and coordinating Cuba's secret guerrilla and terrorist training camps, networks for the covert movement of personnel and material from Cuba, and a propaganda apparatus. DA agents also operated in Europe and other regions in support of operations in the Americas. The DA is organized into four regional sections -Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and North America- as well as a Center for Latin American Studies (CEAL) and a Center for North American Studies (CEA). Covers used by DA staff include diplomats, Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency, Cubana Airlines, the Institute for Friendship With the Peoples (ICAP), and Cuban-front companies. Although usually overlooked by most analysts, the DA is reportedly the most powerful branch of the Cuban security apparatus. DA personnel regard themselves as the elite of the various Cuban security agencies. In 1983 the DA had between 200 and 300 members. The DA draws on the expertise and support of the DGI, sharing manpower to conduct specific operations |
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Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) / Ministry of the Interior |
| The principal intelligence collection
arms of the Cuban government are the Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI)
of Ministry of the Interior, and the Military Counterintelligence Department
of the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces. Both have been closely
associated with the Soviet and Russian intelligence services. The
relationship between these services is likely to continue based upon the
June 14, 1993 agreement on military cooperation between Russia and Cuba. The General Directorate of Intelligence (DGI) was established under the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) in late 1961. The new agency included three Liberation Committees - for the Caribbean, Central America, and South America - collectively known as the Liberation Directorate (DL). In the early 1960's, the DL also was responsible for supporting liberation movements in Africa, including those who overthrew the government of Zanzibar in 1963. However Soviet economic pressure on Cuba in 1967-68 forced Castro to develope a more selective revolutionary strategy, and subordinate the DGI to the KGB. The KGB compelled Castro to replace its chief, Manuel Piñeiro, with José Méndez Cominches in 1969. The DGI thereafter focused its efforts on collecting military, political and economic intelligence, with responsibility for supporting national liberation movements shifting to the new National Liberation Directorate (DLN), which was independent of the MININT. The DLN was subsequently reorganized into the America Department (DA). The DGI is responsible for foreign intelligence collection. The DGI has six divisions divided into two categories of roughly equal size: the Operational Divisions and the Support Divisions. The operational divisions include the Political/Economic Intelligence Division, the External Counterintelligence Division, and the Military Intelligence Division. The Political Economic Intelligence Division consists of four sections: Eastern Europe, North America, Western Europe, and Africa-Asia-Latin America. The External Counterintelligence Division is responsible for penetrating foreign intelligence services and the surveillance of exiles. The support divisions include the Technical Support Division, the Information Division, and the Preparation Division. The Technical Support Division is responsible for production of false documents, communications systems supporting clandestine operations, and development of clandestine message capabilities. The Information and Preparation Divisions are responsible for intelligence analysis functions. On November 15, 1982, four close aides to Castro were convicted on charges of smuggling drugs into the United States. The four included René Rodríguez-Cruz, a senior official of the DGI (Cuban Intelligence Service). On February 7, 1983, a former member of the DGI testified in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida, that Cuban involvement in international drug operations was a multifaceted, methodical campaign aimed at undermining the United States and its international stature. And in 1988 testimony from José Blandón Castillo, a former intelligence aid to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, provided further evidence concerning Cuba's role in the drug flow of the United States. The Cuban mission to the United Nations is the third largest UN delegation, and it has been alleged that almost half the personnel assigned to the mission are DGI officers. The DGI actively recruits within the Cuban emigre community and has used refugee flows into the United States to place agents. The DGI collects political, economic, and military information within the United States. More recently, the DGI has started to conduct operations to gain access to technologies required to improve the Cuban economy. Cuba is considered by the United States to be a sponsor of international terrorism and has worked closely with Puerto Rican separatist and Latin American terrorist groups. Much of this activity has been handled through the DGI. |
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Military Counterintelligence Department / Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces |
| The principal intelligence collection arms of the Cuban government are the Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI) of Ministry of the Interior, and the Military Counterintelligence Department of the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces. Both have been closely associated with the Soviet and Russian intelligence services. The relationship between these services is likely to continue based upon the June 14, 1993 agreement on military cooperation between Russia and Cuba. The Military Intelligence Department is focused on collecting information on the U.S. Armed Forces and coordinates SIGINT operations with the Russians at Lourdes. The Military Counterintelligence Department is responsible for conducting counterintelligence, SIGINT, and electronic warfare activities against the United States. |
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Comando de Missiones Especiales |
| Cuba's CME is tasked with special ops in Cuba and other countries. It is believed they received much of their training from former Soviet Spetznatz units. They operate under the control of the Ministry of Interior department. CME uses a variety of foreign made weapons, including the American made M-16. |
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Comando Tropas Especiales |
| Cuba's CTE is a special forces group that specializes in jungle warfare. They have seen action in Angola and other African nations as well as some Central American countries (such as Nicaragua). Having traveled all over the world, they have amassed quite an eclectic armory. They have been seen with Stechkin pistols, Colt M1911 , Garand and Springfields rifles, post-Batista FN FALs, newer FN CALs, M-16s, (some with M-203 grenade launchers and sniper scopes), Spanish Z-84 SMGs or even Barnett Commando crossbows. They also use the PM-63 RAK SMG as their main assault weapon along with the old soviet 5.45mm AKSU-74 (AKR) sub-assault rifle and have also been seen with the Polish immobilizing net launchers (SZO-84). |