Rafael "Chi Chi" Quintero Ibaria (September 16, 1940 – October 1, 2006) was a

CIA 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, ...

operative.

Biography

Quintero was born in Camagüey, Cuba on September 16, 1940. In the 1950s, he joined the

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

against Cuban dictator

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

. A few days prior to the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...

he joined

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 ...

's group in the

Sierra Maestra The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it a ...

. After becoming dissatisfied with the Castro regime, he joined

Manuel Artime Manuel Francisco Artime Buesa, M.D. (29 January 1932 – 18 November 1977) was a Cuban-American who at one time was a member of the rebel army of Fidel Castro but later was the political leader of Brigade 2506 land forces in the abortive Bay of Pi ...

against Castro. Artime's group was supported by

Frank Sturgis Frank Anthony Sturgis (December 9, 1924 – December 4, 1993), born Frank Angelo Fiorini, was one of the five Watergate scandal, Watergate burglars whose capture led to the end of the presidency of Richard Nixon. He served in several branche ...

and the

as related by Fabian Escalante in ''CIA Covert Operations: 1959 - 1962''. Sturgis flew a

plane over

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, dropping thousands of pamphlets urging the Cuban people to overthrow the Castro regime on October 21, 1959, as part of Artime's operations. About December 1959, Manuel Artime left

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

with a hundred thousand pesos when nothing happened. Quintero moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the next month. On June 5, 1960, The Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution or (MRR) was created by

, Tony Varona, Aureliano Arango,

José Miró Cardona José Miró Cardona (22 August 1902 – 10 August 1974) was a Cuban politician. He served as Prime Minister for a period of some six weeks in early 1959, following his appointment by President Manuel Urrutia on 5 January 1959. On 13 February ...

and Quintero. Around the same time, Quintero became a member of

Operation 40 Operation 40 was the code name for a Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored counterintelligence group composed of Cuban exiles. The group was formed to seize control of the Cuban government after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Operation 40 continued t ...

along with other anti-Castro Cubans. In 1961 Quintero secretly re-entered

and was arrested just before the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fina ...

, was released and returned to the U.S. Rafael Quintero served as deputy leader of MRR under Artime in 1962. Manuel Artime got money from the CIA through

Theodore Shackley Theodore George "Ted" Shackley, Jr. (July 16, 1927 – December 9, 2002) was an American CIA officer involved in many important and controversial CIA operations during the 1960s and 1970s. He is one of the most decorated CIA officers. Due to his ...

in 1963. Artime, Quintero and Félix Rodríguez moved to

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

creating an army of 300 men and obtained weapons, supplies and boats to invade

. Quintero died in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

after a history of

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...

References

The Independent - Rafael (Chi Chi) Quintero obit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintero, Rafael 1940 births 2006 deaths American spies Cuban emigrants to the United States Iran–Contra affair People of the Central Intelligence Agency

Biography

Further reading

References