Directorate General of Intelligence (DGI)

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.

GlobalSecurity

The repressive methods of the Stasi in service to Cuban State Security.

 This is an excerpt from the research on the Havana-Berlin connection.

By Jorge L. García Vázquez 

The Cuban State Security Service has been known to use repressive methods against members of the opposition movement.

The Castro regime remains in power due to its aggressive, repressive apparatus: a political police force that harasses, imprisons, mistreats, and physically and psychologically tortures the opposition movement, while constantly intimidating its members.

Foto: BStA/EBW PH 1101652

In addition to the political and economic factors prevailing in the 1980s, one of the fundamental causes that accelerated the fall of the Berlin Wall and the demise of the communist dictatorship in East Germany was the State Security’s reaction to the situation that arose in the wake of the popular protests.

The GDR’s political police were unprepared to disperse the demonstrations and unable to halt the activities of opposition and Protestant church groups using political and operational measures. These actions were asymmetrical and spontaneous. The Socialist Party and its shield and sword, the Stasi, began to crumble. The repressive machinery ceased to function effectively.

The Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) appear to have learned from the mistakes of their former ally, as well as from nearly 30 years of cooperation.

The Cuban political police are attempting to stifle and liquidate the Cuban opposition psychologically and economically to prevent a chain reaction of events that could lead to mass protests.

I believe the MININT is preparing for a transition or an operational situation similar to Berlin in 1989, adjusting its structures and financial resources accordingly.

A 1974 Stasi document, handed over to MININT, outlines the methodology and provides recommendations to MININT. The document details methods for dismantling dissident and opposition groups through harassment, psychological terror, and operational measures. 

CONEXIÓN HABANA-BERLIN 

Translated with DeepL.com 

 

https://amp.dw.com/en/berlin-businesswoman-charged-with-spying-for-russia/a-79258004

The Shadow of the Stasi. By Jorge L. García Vázquez

The Shadow of the Stasi

 By Jorge L. García Vázquez

The Havana-Berlin Connection

These sources explore the close collaboration between the Ministry for State Security of former East Germany, known as the Stasi, and Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT).

Declassified documents and Vázquez's research reveal how the East German regime provided technical training in espionage, counterintelligence, communications, document forgery, and operational disguises for agents.

The texts portray MININT as a tool of political control and repression that adopted Stasi methods to monitor dissent and uphold the Castro regime's power structure. 

The texts also detail the exchange of intelligence, the supply of weapons, and mutual support agreements that bolstered the operational capacity of the Cuban political police during the Cold War.

Finally, the articles emphasize the lasting impact of these tactics on the Cuban government's infiltration and disinformation activities, both domestically and internationally.

Cuba Archive Accuses State of Using Therapies and Drugs to Punish Opponents

 

Documents in the archives of the German political police give an account, as late as 1981, of the Cuban request for a list of 16 drugs designed to psychologically destabilize prisoners who had committed crimes against state security, including cocaine, LSD, methadone and various barbiturates.

In a letter to the Stasi, Cuban Colonel Lorenzo Hernando Caldeiro asks “to exchange opinions and experiences in psychology” to “use these branches of science in the fight against the enemy” and confirms an agreement to send psychologists from the island to various institutions in Germany as part of the 1988 “Exchange Work Plan.”

14yMEDIO

CUBA ARCHIVO

Our Comrades in Havana

https://youtu.be/--pF1ndld4Q?is=ndQK9Ien7QLcL-H0

Join Radoslav Yordanov (Harvard University) for a discussion on his book, Our Comrades in Havana.  In the immediate aftermath of its successful revolution, Cuba was heralded by socialist nations as the vanguard of communism in Latin America. But by the late 1980s, Havana’s relationship with the Soviet-led socialist bloc had soured over its inability to adopt modes of socialist planning and Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. Yordanov examines Cuba’s ideological, political, and economic relations with the Eastern European states. Eastern European diplomats were entrusted with the task of educating local Cuban leadership in the intricacies of Marxism-Leninism, steering Cuba's governors onto the "correct path of development," helping them eradicate "erroneous ideas" of economic development, and showing them the validity of socialist "morals and ideology." By analyzing Eastern European diplomats' and specialists’ experiences in Havana from the 1959 Cuban revolutionary victory to the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, he sheds new light on Cuba's role in the global Cold War

Operational Disinformation

 By Jorge L. García Vázquez 

       Havana-Berlin Connection 

The East German intelligence service (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung) advised Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence and Counterintelligence on how to implement disinformation and influence tactics, and how to train double agents. Documents from the Stasi archives confirm this.

I am not referring to the disinformation and propaganda that the regime publicly disseminates through its agents of influence in the media and on social networks or its supporters. Rather, I am referring to those who carry out operational disinformation from strategic positions. This constitutes another category within the processes of disinformation and influence.

The Cuban espionage apparatus remains intact. It has undoubtedly suffered setbacks, but they have not affected its superstructure or weakened its operational capacity. The Directorate of Intelligence has demonstrated its ability to recover quickly and exploit its enemy's weaknesses.

The U.S. intelligence community was slow to react to subversive activities and espionage operations launched from Havana. Cuban infiltration and penetration of government and academic structures has been successful.

February 1987, Excerpt from a letter by Brigadier General Eladio Sánchez, second-in-command of the Counterintelligence Directorate, to the Stasi:

"Our goal is to deepen our understanding of operational activity and the ability of our agents to influence and be influential in the conduct and assessments of enemy intelligence officers and analysts. We also aim to improve the preparation and use of penetration agents in influence and operational disinformation tasks during direct contact with officers and analysts of American intelligence services."

Ana Montes, a Cuban spy, carried out effective operational disinformation activities.

I do not believe the United States can effectively dismantle Cuba's support networks and structures because they are embedded in American society's academic, union, and religious sectors.