The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front () was founded in May 1960 by anti- Castro

Cuban exile A Cuban exile is a person who has been exiled from Cuba. Many Cuban exiles have various differing experiences as emigrants depending on when they emigrated from Cuba, and why they emigrated. The exile of Cubans has been a dominating factor in C ...

s and was initially headquartered in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It was known in Spanish as the Frente Revolucionario Democrático (FRD) and was composed of five major

anti-Castro The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Marxist-Leninist Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political d ...

groups. The FRD's military wing was called

Brigade 2506 Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506) was a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro. It carried out the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion landings in Cuba ...

, which fought in the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

. Cuban exile Sergio Arcacha Smith was the head of the

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

chapter of the FRD. In December 1960, Arcacha Smith opened an office in the Balter Building at 403 Camp Street, Room 207. This was the building where anti-Castro activist and accused JFK assassination conspirator Guy Banister had his office until July 1960.Jerry P. Shinley Archive: Sergio Arcacha Smith and the FRD (Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front): JFK assassination investigation: Jim Garrison New Orleans investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination
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House Select Committee on Assassinations - Appendix to Hearings, Volume 10, 12, p. 110. In October 1961, the FRD was absorbed by the Cuban Revolutionary Council, and Arcacha moved the office to 544 Camp Street for several months. Arcacha was forced out of his position in January 1962 by a group of local anti-Castro exiles.

References

Aftermath of the Cuban Revolution Opposition to Fidel Castro Defunct political parties in Cuba Cuban diaspora Anti-communist organizations {{NorthAm-org-stub