Rolando Cubela Secades (19 January 1933 – 23 August 2022) was a Cuban revolutionary leader who played a vital part in the Cuban Revolution, having been a founding member of the

Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil ( abbreviation: DRE; English: Student Revolutionary Directorate) was a Cuban student activist group which in opposition to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista from 1954 to 1957 played a role in the Cuban Revolu ...

and later the military leader of the DRE's Escambray Mountain front, achieving the rank of Commander, the highest military rank in the Revolutionary Army. After the Revolution succeeded in 1959, Cubela became Cuba's envoy to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. Under the

cryptonym A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a Code word (figure of speech), code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may ...

AM/LASH, Cubela became "an important asset" of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, and worked with them on plots to assassinate

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

. In 1966, Cubela was arrested for plotting the assassination of Castro, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Released in 1979, he went into exile in Spain.

Career

Cubela was born in

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 150,000. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, especial ...

, Cuba, on 19 January 1933, though many sources incorrectly cite 1932. In 1955 Cubela was a founding member of the

(DRE), and was one of eight members of its Executive Council. In 1956 Cubela was part of a DRE group which attempted to assassinate Santiago Rey Perna, a member of President Fulgencio Batista's cabinet; Perna was absent at the time of the attack and the group instead assassinated Antonio Blanco Rico, head of Cuban military intelligence. The incident prompted Chief of National Police Rafael Salas Canizares to assault the Haitian embassy in Havana, where some revolutionaries were seeking political asylum; Canizares and ten revolutionaries were killed. After the assassination, Cubela went into exile in the United States in late 1956, returning to Cuba in 1958. In mid-1958, Cubela was disputing leadership of the

with Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo. Menoyo had developed the Escambray Mountain front which was the center of DRE activity after the failed March 1957 coup attempt in Havana; but Menoyo had joined the DRE more recently whilst Cubela was a founding member. Cubela was ultimately recognized as DRE military leader, and Menoyo left the organization. Menoyo formed the Segundo Frente del Escambray, a group that continued the fight against Batista. Years later, after the triumph of the Revolution, many of the Segundo Frente members fought against the new regime of Fidel Castro. Cubela leading the DRE was wounded in the

Battle of Santa Clara The Battle of Santa Clara was a series of events in late December 1958 that led to the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara by revolutionaries under the command of Che Guevara. The battle was a decisive victory for the rebels fighting ag ...

. After the Cuban Revolution, Cubela was appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Government in 1959, and in October was elected head of the Federación Estudiantíl Universitaria. Cubela made significant contributions in the early months of the revolutionary government to the reconciliation of the different revolutionary groups, and in 1960 to the merger of various youth and student groups. In summer 1960, Cubela met an old friend, Carlos Tepedino, who was by then working for the CIA under the

AMWHIP. After Cuban leader Fidel Castro had – in Cubela's view – betrayed the revolution and established a communist dictatorship, Cubela became disenchanted and started plotting with the CIA and other opponents of the Castro regime to try to end Castro's government and return to a non-socialist course for the country. Cubela later became "an important asset" of the

under the cryptonym AM/LASH, and worked with them on plots to assassinate

. In October 1963, Cubela met with Desmond Fitzgerald, head of the CIA's Special Affairs Staff, in Paris, over the objections of some SAS staff who considered Cubela a possible dangle or at least a security risk. At another Paris meeting, on 22 November 1963, Cubela received a "poison pen" – a fountain pen with a

hypodermic needle A hypodermic needle (from Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)), one of a category of medical tools which enter the skin, called sharps, is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. It is commonly used w ...

to be used to inject Castro with a poison. Nevertheless, Cubela was insisting on a meeting with US Attorney General

Robert Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...

before proceeding with the assassination of Castro. The CIA cautious of "

plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to denial, deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by members of their organizational hierarchy. Th ...

" stalled. In June 1965, however, the Agency terminated its relationship with Cubela "for reasons related to security". On 28 February 1966, Castro summoned Cubela to his office, and had him arrested for plotting to kill the head of state. The prosecution did not refer to Cubela's pre-1964 CIA contacts or activities, including the 1963 poison pen episode, limiting evidence to 1964–5 activities. After Castro petitioned the court to avoid the death penalty, Cubela was sentenced to 25 years in prison. After his pardon by Castro and his release in 1979, he went into exile to Spain, and became a physician. He spent the last years of his life in Miami, Florida, where he did not participate in the political activities of the Cuban exile community. He died on 24 August 2022 at a hospital in Doral, Florida, United States.

In fiction

Cubela appears in '' Che'' (2008), played by different actors in parts one and two. He also features in

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...

's ''

Harlot's Ghost ''Harlot's Ghost'' (1991) is a fictional chronicle of the Central Intelligence Agency by Norman Mailer. The characters are a mixture of real people and fictional figures. At over 1,300 pages, the book is Mailer's longest. Summary At first it a ...

''.

References

* *

External links

El Ataque al Palacio Presidencial 13 de Marzo de 1957

Rolando CUBELA, CIA aka AMLASH * ROLANDO CUBELA, C.I.A. aka Amlash.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubela Secades, Rolando 1933 births 2022 deaths Cuban revolutionaries Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in Spain Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States People convicted of attempted murder People from Cienfuegos People of the Central Intelligence Agency

Career

In fiction

See also

References

External links