Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities

The Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities (Buró para Represión de las Actividades Comunistas, or BRAC) was the Cuban secret police agency that President Fulgencio Batista maintained in the 1950s, which gained a reputation for brutality in its fight against the 26th of July Movement.[1][2][3][4][5]

The bureau was headed by Mariano Faget, who had first gained fame as a Nazi hunter during Batista's first turn at power, from 1940 to 1944, when he was chief of the Office of Investigation of Enemy Activities (Oficina de Investigación de Actividades Enemigas),[lower-alpha 1] a counter-espionage unit that targeted Nazi and Fascist agents.

On Dec. 7, 1955, BRAC agents fired upon an anti-Batista demonstration held by the Federation of University of Students in Havana. Several demonstrators, including Camilo Cienfuegos, were wounded when the police opened fire on the crowd.[6]

The development of BRAC was aided and encouraged by the CIA starting in 1956.

Notes
  1. Also called the Servicio, Buró or Sección de Investigación de Actividades Enemigas.

References
  1. "Miami Herald: Faget's father was a brutal Batista official". Jonathanpollard.org. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  2. Jean-Guy Allard. "Bush and Batista: Brothers in Arms". Webcitation.org. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  3. "Cuba's Batista". Latinamericanstudies.org. 1959-01-01. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  4. "4/22/96 - Camilo Cienfuegos As An Immigrant In U.S". The Militant. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  5. "The Cuban revolution the truth behind the lies". Cubaverdad.net. Archived from the original on 2018-09-27. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  6. Sierra, Rafael "Camilo Cienfuegos As An Immigrant In U.S." The Militant(April 22, 1996)


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