Electronic Warfare . Excerpts from the research report, "Havana-Berlin Connection": By Jorge L. García Vázquez

                   Electronic Warfare

Excerpts from the research report, "Havana-Berlin Connection"

By Jorge L. García Vázquez

"Dear Comrade Prieto,

Allow me to inform you that, thanks to the support of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Cuba, the assembly and commissioning of a 10-meter parabolic antenna was successfully completed at the Special Radio Services of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR".

(Letter from General Manfred Männchen, head of the Stasi's Special Radio Services, to Colonel Abelardo Prieto Rodríguez, head of Directorate XI of the Ministry of the Interior, October 30, 1985).

The Radio Intelligence (RI) and Radio Counter-Intelligence (RCI) departments of the Ministry of the Interior and their East German counterparts in the Stasi engaged in intense and costly collaboration.

The development of "electronic warfare" in Cuba has a name: Ramiro Valdés. The Minister of the Interior of Cuba at the time dedicated special attention to this sector. During a meeting with high-ranking Stasi officers, Valdés proposed turning Cuba into an "Electronic Warfare laboratory" for the benefit of the socialist bloc.

An important collaboration agreement was signed on June 30, 1983, between the Special Radio Services of the Ministry of State Security (MfS) and the Cuban Directorate of Counterintelligence.

In 1975, a Stasi delegation visited Cuba. A report on the visit stated:

"The Ministry of the Interior (MININT) has requested the support of the MfS. Cuban counterintelligence has existed since 1961. Its main department is located in Santiago de las Vegas, 25 kilometers south of Havana and near the Rancho Boyeros Airport. Other centers are located in Havana and Santiago de Cuba. Four radio direction-finding stations are located in other parts of the country".

What did this collaboration entail, and what were its technical and operational objectives?

(a) Intercept and decrypt enemy Special Services' and agents' transmissions.

(b) Monitor radio communications in East Germany and Cuba and in the diplomatic missions accredited in both countries.