Talk:Manuel Piñeiro

What about the deaths he is responsible for?
You don't mention the innocent people that died during his time as head of the cuban secret police, the DGI.

I think is important to inform about his crimes.190.45.75.14 (talk) 21:25, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Bay of Pigs Invasion
Added Bay of Pigs ref. See also below, quotes from various books that might be useful in this article. See book details in the BoPI article. Anderson (1998) p.440 (quote)Soon, Romero and his comrades were subsumed into the new military counterintelligence apparatus being run by Ramiro Valdes and his deputy "Barba Roja," the red-bearded Manuel Pineiro Losada, a onetime Columbia University student and the son of Galician emigres who ran a wine-import firm and beer distributorship in Matanzas.(unquote) Johnson (1964) p.214 (quote)Manuel Pineiro, a big man known to Cubans as "Barbarroja" because of his long, bristling, bright red beard, was standing over him, along with Pedro Luis Rodriguez and Ramiro Valdes, the chief of Castro's G-2. All three were Communists from the old guard. Barbarroja was the first to speak. "Artime, you are the son of a bitch that has caused us more trouble and made us more harm than anyone else. Now you are going to pay for everything you've done to us." He said Artime's movement, the MRR, was destroyed, there was nothing left of the Brigade and Artime was going to die. He could die in two ways: quickly, by a bullet, or slowly, in misery. "If you cooperate with us you will die, shot, but like a hero. If you don't, we are very sorry, but you are going to suffer deeply." First, they asked about "the people that betrayed you, the Americans." Second, they wanted to know about the MRR. And third, they wanted Artime to sign a declaration. Artime refused to talk. Barbarroja grabbed him by the neck and shouted, "Artime, you've failed the test. You're going to be sorry." They took him by car to Havana.(unquote) Szulc (1986) p.36 (quote)A notable Security person at the palace is Comandante Manuel Pineiro Losada, long known in Cuba as Barba Roja (for his red beard, now white). Pineiro, a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee, is head of its Latin American Department and, as such, the chief coordinator of all the Cuban operations in the hemisphere, from Nicaragua and El Salvador to Panama, Peru and Argentina. Given Castro's ambitions for Latin American leadership, Pineiro's position is extremely important. Pineiro acquired his anti-Americanism (and his first wife, an American) when he studied at Columbia University in New York in the early 1950s, and was humbled and 'radicalized' by his defeat by a 'rich South American kid' in the elections for president of a student association. He was in the anti-Batista underground back in Havana where his apartment was an arms depository before the failed and horribly bloody attack on the presidential palace by young revolutionaries in 1957. Later he joined Raul Castro's command in the Sierra, and wound up as military governor in Santiago. When Ramiro Valdes, Che Guevara's deputy, became chief of the Rebel Army's G-2 Section (Security and Intelligence), Pineiro was named number two. He presided over the revolutionary tribunal that sentenced Batista aviators to severe prison terms in 1959 (they had been acquitted under another judge, then re-tried on Castro's orders). He subsequently took over as head of G-2. He was Cuba's top political policeman under Valdes until 1968, when a Soviet-imposed reorganization of the Security Services forced him out - and Castro put him in charge of Latin American affairs. It is rare for Pineiro not to be present at social functions at the Palace of the Revolution (usually standing near Castro with a small group of the top leadership), and it is not uncommon to find him in the middle of the night having a milkshake with friends in Chomy's downstairs office. Naturally, he has permanent access to Castro's third-floor office.(unquote) Thomas (1971) p.495n4 (quote)Pineiro, married to a North American, had been in Raul Castro's column and afterwards became chief of the army in Oriente. He was one of the most faithful supporters of Castro and had entered the Ministry of the Interior in the course of the autumn of 1959.(unquote) PeterWD (talk) 07:42, 5 September 2009 (UTC)