Cuba Archive - Case 258

Case ID: 258

Title: N/A

First name: Manuel

Last name: Piñeiro Losada

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: Barbarroja (Red Beard)

Age: 63

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:14 / Month:5 / Year:1934

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:12 / Month:3 / Year:1998

Citizenship: Cuba

Last known address: N/A

Last known city: N/A

Last known province-TOD: Ciudad de La Habana

Last known province current: Ciudad de La Habana

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: Hospital in Havana

Location of death - city: Havana

Location of death province - at TOD: Ciudad de La Habana

Location of death province - current: Ciudad de La Habana

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: No

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: No

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: Unspecified prison

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: N/A

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Retired legendary head of Cuba´s intelligence services who died after a suspicious car accident. Mexican scholar Jorge Castaneda described Pineiro as the one figure who ''more than any other personified the armed revolutionary struggle'' in the Western Hemisphere.
The Cuban government reported he had fainted at the wheel of his car after attending a reception at the Mexican Embassy, causing a single-vehicle accident on the streets of Miramar, Havana. They further stated he had survived with minor injuries and had been taken to a special government hospital for observation, but had died in his hospital bed of a heart attack. He was buried at Colon Cemetery in Havana with President Fidel Castro in attendance and with full official honors as a Commander of the Revolution.
Piñeiro's had been head of the G-2 Section (security and intelligence) from 1961-1964, Deputy Minister of the Interior in charge of the state security aparatus 1964-1968, and then Director of the Americas Department, an arm of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in charge of international subversion. He had been officially retired in 1992, reportedly after falling out of favor with the Castro brothers, and had become a fixture on the Havana diplomatic party circuit.
According to Brian Latell, former CIA officer and author, high-ranking Cuban defectors had reported that Piñeiro had strayed from the rigid orthodoxies espoused by the Castro brothers and had been shunted aside, but  "was impossible to retire.” He knew too much and had said he was writing his memoirs. The day after his death, security personnel searched his home in Havana, which had been apparently bugged.  His bodyguard/driver was certain he had had been murdered. The day before the accident, he had been instructed to take some time off and that Piñeiro would drive himself. 
Piñeiro was born in Cuba, both his parents immigrants from Galicia. His father was the Bacardi rum representative in the province of Matanzas and he had a privileged upbringing. He had studied Business at Columbia University in the 1950s and had first married a Tennessee-born ballerina Lorna Burdsall. A hard-core revolutionary, Piñeiro had joined the armed insurgency against Batista in the Sierra Maestra. He also hated the United States and shared the Castro brother' desire to spread revolution throughout Latin America. In 1973 he had married Marta Harnecker, Chilean Marxist writer-scholar who emigrated to Cuba after the Allende coup and played a leading role as Marxist theoretician of the Cuban regime and later assisted Hugo Chavez in setting the course of the socialism in Venezuela.
================================
Antiguo jefe de los servicios de inteligencia de Cuba de 63 años que se había retirado en 1992, supuestamente por haberse alejado de la ortodoxia del régimen. Se informó oficialmente que había sufrido un accidente al desmayarse al volante de su automóvil cuando regresaba a su casa luego de una recepción. Aunque solo sufrió heridas leves, lo habían mantenido en el hospital "para observación", donde luego murió en cama de un supuesto ataque al corazón. Un día antes del accidente, su guardaespaldas había recibido instrucciones de tomarse un descanso. Desertores del régimen cubano explicaron que había
anunciado que estaba escribiendo sus memorias y que sabía demasiado.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Reported: Highly likely / Highly reliable source(s)

Cause of Death: - Extrajudicial killing, possible/suspected

Occupations: - N/A

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Government official (civilian, police, State Security, etc.)

Affiliations: N/A

Other Victims Same Event: N/A

Case Record - Manuel Piñeiro Losada