Manuel Piñeiro, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetManuel Piñeiro
Founding father of Cuba's espionage services
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Matanzas, Matanzas Province, Cuba
About Manuel Piñeiro
- Manuel Piñeiro Losada (Matanzas, Cuba, March 14, 1933 – Havana, March 11, 1998), known as Barba Roja (Spanish: "red beard"), was a Cuban political and military figure, a leading character of the Cuban Revolution, as the first head of Fidel Castro's security apparatus (known as Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI): General Intelligence Directorate).
- By supporting armed struggle in Latin America, the DGI would try to help the expansion of radical leftist guerrilla groups in the subcontinent. Piñeiro was the Cuban DGI chief from 1961-1964.
- He then became Deputy Minister of the Interior in charge of the state security apparatus from 1964-1968.
- A Soviet reorganization of the DGI forced Piñeiro out of his position and he was then placed in charge of the DGI's Latin American affairs division.
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