Alpha 66

Alpha 66 is an anti-Castro paramilitary group.[1][2] Named for its original 66 members, Alpha 66 is the oldest anti-Castro group in Miami, Florida.[2]

History

The founder and first leader of Alpha 66 was Antonio Veciana Blanch.[3] Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo helped form the group.[4]

The group worked during the 1960s and 1970s to plan assassination attempts on Fidel Castro in Havana 1961 and in Chile in 1971.

Though an invasion never materialized after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, the group continued its violent efforts against Cuba. In 1976, Miami Police's Lieutenant Thomas Lyons and Detective Raul J. Diaz testified that groups including Alpha 66 had international terrorist ties and had sold $100 "bonds" in Miami to help finance their causes. The group was linked to a spate of bombings and assassinations in Miami during the 1970s, directed at Pro-Castro speakers. No Alpha 66 member was convicted of these crimes, however; and other Cuban paramilitary groups, such as Omega 7 and Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, were active in Miami at the same time. A week before Lyons and Diaz's testimony, broadcaster Emilio Milian's legs were blown off by a car bomb outside his workplace.[5] Alpha 66 continues to be an organized entity.[6]

At the time of his death in 2004, Alpha 66 was led by Andrés Nazario Sargen.[2]

In popular culture

The group was featured in the 2003 film Bad Boys 2 and on the TV show Max X.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cuba Jails 3 Men as Suspects in Sabotage Plot". The New York Times. AP. June 22, 2001. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Andres Nazario Sargen, 88; a Leader of Alpha 66, an Anti-Castro Group". Los Angeles Times. October 9, 2004. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  3. ↑ "III. Antonio Veciana Blanch". Appendix to Hearings before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives. X. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. March 1979. p. 37.
  4. ↑ Haven, Paul (October 27, 2012). "Eloy Gutierrez-Menoyo, 77; fought beside, against Castro". The Boston Globe. AP. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  5. ↑ Terroristic Activity : Terrorism in the Miami Area. Miami public pages.
  6. ↑ "The coddled "terrorists" of South Florida". salon.com.
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