Historians of the Vietnam War have shown that the North Vietnamese invited CUBAN intelligence agents to the Hanoi Hilton to "interview" the American POWs. The North Vietnamese gave the reason for this as: The Cubans speak better English than we do because they live close to the USA.
But anons should seriously look at the possibility of the Cuban interrogators in Hanoi from 1965 to 1973 doing MKULTRA type programming on the men.
Sauce: http:// www.miafacts.org/rjd_cuban.htm
What Was The "Cuban Program"?
American POWs coined the term "Cuban Program" to describe a program in which a small team of Caucasian interrogators brutally beat and tortured 19 American aviators in a camp our POWs nicknamed "the Zoo," in Hanoi, between July 1967 and August 1968. One of the POWs, USAF Major Earl G. Cobeil, eventually died from the beatings.
The Caucasian interrogators spoke English fluently, but with a Spanish accent, and spoke knowledgeably about Central America and the Southeastern United States. In an exchange with one of our POWs, a Vietnamese guard referred to the Caucasian interrogators as Cubans. These and other factors led many POWs and analysts, including me, to believe that the interrogators were Cubans, possibly Cubans who had lived in the United States.
The POWs nicknamed the chief Caucasian interrogator "Fidel." They nicknamed his principal assistant "Chico."
Several days before the "Cuban Program" ended a third man the POWs nicknamed variously "Pancho" and "Garcia" appeared to replace "Fidel."
The POWs observed another man who might have been Cuban working as an electrical technician in the POW camp during the closing months of the program. They also heard the voice of a woman they believed was Cuban on the camp radio for about two weeks near the end of the program.
When did the Department of Defense first learn about the "Cuban Program"?
The DOD first learned about the "Cuban Program" in March 1973 when the reports of the first post-homecoming debriefings began arriving at DIA's POW/MIA office.
How did the Department of Defense respond to these first reports?
By 19 March 1973, nearly two weeks before the last POW was released, the DIA’s POW/MIA Office had brought this issue to the attention of senior DOD officials.
By the 23rd of March, the US government had established a coordinated effort to learn the identity of the "Cubans".
That effort involved the DIA, each of the Armed Services, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee’s Chief Investigator.
sauce: http:// www.miafacts.org/rjd_cuban.htm
In April 1974, the CIA informed the Defense Intelligence Agency that CIA analysts had tentatively identified the interrogator nicknamed "Fidel" as one Luis Perez, also known as Luis Perez Jaen, a Captain in the Cuban Ministry of Interior. This Captain:
bullet was in Hanoi during the "Cuban Program,"
bullet had a history of interrogating foreigners in Cuba, and
bullet was in the US during 1956-1957, buying and shipping arms to Cuba.
bullet possessed most of the physical and personality traits of "Fidel" that our POWs had described.
The CIA provided DIA a copy of a photograph of Luis Perez Jaen that was published in the Cuban newspaper "Oriente" on 25 February 1959. The photograph, which we have shared with the Committee, depicts Perez Jaen wearing a military cap and a full beard.
Between November 1975 and mid-1976 US Air Force investigators asked seven victims of the "Cuban Program" to examine this photograph of Luis Perez Jaen. Six of these men could not state positively that he was the interrogator they nicknamed "Fidel," primarily because the photo depicts him wearing a full beard. One of the seven men, Colonel Donald Waltman, wrote in a 16 April 1976 note to a US Air Force investigator: "I say yes, that's Fidel; or at least a guy who looks too much like him. I have to try to imagine him clean shaven, and when I do its him. (Maybe because I'd like to I.D. him so damn bad). Its the most look like Fidel picture I have seen."
Also in April 1974, the CIA informed the DIA that "Chico" might be a Cuban named Veiga (first name unknown), an employee of the Cuban Department of State Security. Reportedly, Veiga had studied at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, during 1958-59. An extensive follow up investigation by US Air Force investigators failed to confirm the identity of this person.
Other names have been suggested over the years; however, subsequent investigations either ruled them out or proved inconclusive. For example, the DIA POW/MIA Office provided historical information about the "Cuban Program" to the FBI when it investigated a 1987 report that a Cuban employee of the United Nations might be one of the Cuban interrogators. The FBI worked closely with returned POWs in that investigation; however, the POWs could not positively identify the Cuban at the United Nations as one of the men who tortured them in Hanoi.
Recent news stories suggest that the Cuban Minister of Education, Fernando Vecino Alegret, is the interrogator our POWs nicknamed Fidel. Fernando Vecino Alegret first came to our attention shortly before he visited the U.S. in November 1978. At that time federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies examined the possibility that he was the interrogator named Fidel. We have been searching our historical files for any record we might have received from those agencies concerning Fernando Vecino Alegret. Two days ago we discovered a still classified September 1973 report that described Fernando Vecino Alegret as an engineering graduate who studied at the University of Havana during 1962-1965. The report also stated that he founded the Cuban Military Technical Institute (ITM) in September 1966, and that he was its director from September 1966 until January 1973. We have not yet had time to confirm the origin and reliability of that report; however, if the information in the report is accurate, there is little chance that Fernando Vecino Alegret could be the interrogator "Fidel."
Among the names we have received, the two names the CIA suggested in April 1974 remain the most likely candidates for the interrogators nicknamed "Fidel" and "Chico."
sauce: http:// www.miafacts.org/rjd_cuban.htm
What Was The Purpose Of The "Cuban Program?"
The only information we have concerning the purpose of the Cuban Program comes from the American POWs who were victims and two Vietnamese military officers.
The preponderance of information in our files suggests that the "Cuban Program" was a Cuban assistance program that went awry and that the Vietnamese terminated the program shortly after the interrogator nicknamed "Fidel" beat Major Cobeil into a near catatonic state from which he never recovered.
Has The Department Of Defense Kept The Congress Informed?
The Department of Defense has kept the Congress informed about the "Cuban Program" from the very beginning. For example, the DPMO's predecessor office, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Special Office for POW/MIA Affairs, presented testimony about the "Cuban Program" to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee during hearings on 2 July 1973, about three months after the last American POW was released. A former POW who was a victim of the program, US Navy Lieutenant Commander Larry Spencer, also testified before the subcommittee.
Later, the DIA's POW/MIA office provided historical information to the subcommittee’s Chief Investigator, Mr. Alfonso L. Tarabochia, who conducted an independent effort to identify the interrogators.
By September 1974, Mr. Tarabochia had tentatively concluded that "Fidel" possibly was a Cuban named Pedro Fumero. Unfortunately, the returned POWs who were victims of "Fidel" could not identify Fumero as one of their interrogators.
The DPMO’s DIA predecessor office also provided an appraisal to the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee on 6 October 1977. More recently, the DPMO provided updates on the "Cuban Program" to Congressman Dornan on 23 March 1987, 22 August 1996, and 11 and 17 September 1996.
Has the Department of Defense kept the public informed about this issue?
The story about the "Cuban Program" is not new. For example, I have here eight news articles about the "Cuban Program" published in 1973, 1977, and 1981 in Washington, DC, New York, Baltimore, Denver, and Des Moines. These articles are based on information released by the DPMO's predecessor, the DIA's POW/MIA office, and personal accounts by POWs who were victims of the program.
sauce: http:// www.miafacts.org/rjd_cuban.htm