.: ANTI-CASTRO GUERILLAS TRAIN IN MIAMI SWAMPLAND. (1961)

Members of the ’Anti-Communist International Brigade’ - composed of Cuban exiles and volunteers of other nationalities - were recently filmed training in the fores and swampland around Miami, Florida, before they embarked on an expedition to join rebels in the Pinar Del Rio province of Cuba. Description 1. TV Frank Fiorini talks with men. 2. LV Fiorini leads men during jungle training. 3. TV Ditto. 4. SCU Alex Rorke Jnr. interviews Angus McNair. SOF. STARTS:- QUESTION: “What are you doing with this outfit Angus?.“ SOF. ENDS “... we’ve had Communism spread throughout the war“ Rorke: “What are you doing with this outfit Angus?“ Mcnair: “Well, it sees to me there’s some sort of job that has to be done in Cuba, and the United States cannot take an active part in it. You might say we’re more of a spearhead in that drive to rid Cuba of Communism, which is a little bit too close to our shores.“ Rorke: “Do you think you’re playing with the blessing of the State Department?“. Mcnair: “Officially no. Unofficially yes I think we are“. Rorke: “You are not backed by the . (Central Intelligence Agency) or any organisation are you?“. Mcnair: “Well I’ve heard rumours to that effect but nobody can prove it“. Rorke: “What outfit were you in?.“ Mcnair: “I was in the 775 Field Artillery Battalion.“ Rorke: “Were you in Europe?.“ Mcnair: “Yes I spent four years there“. Rorke: “You feel that this is a job that people like yourselves have to do?.“ Mcnair: “I believe yes. It takes a certain amount of volunteers to do it. It’s going to have to be done. It must be done. It’s too close. We’ve had Communism spread throughout the world“. Initials TDH/S/WS/MMcG Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved Background: Members of the ’Anti-Communist International Brigade’ - composed of Cuban exiles and volunteers of other nationalities - were recently filmed training in the fores and swampland around Miami, Florida, before they embarked on an expedition to join rebels in the Pinar Del Rio province of Cuba. Led by Frank Fiorini, an American world-war two veteran who became honorary Chief of Castro’s Air Force Security after the revolution against Batista, the ’Brigade’ is financed and manned mainly from exile sources. Fiorini and Major Pedro Dias Lanz were the first high-ranking officers to defect from the Castro regime. He was co-pilot with Dias Lanz in 1959 when they dropped leaflets on Havana and created an international incident. American newsman Alex Rorke Jr. interviewed ex-American serviceman, 28-year old Angus McNair, during the training session:- Both Rorke and Mcnair were captured by Castro forces Mar 21 as they were shuttling supplies for the rebel forces from an off shore island to the coast of the Pinar Del Rio province of Cuba. Mcnair was forced to radio back to his base and ask for their supply aircraft to come to their position. Contact was made with the base, and the ruse, a copy of the trick by which a plane sent by Cuban exiles was ambushed at Las Villas in 1959, began. However, during the radio conversation Mcnair shouted that it was a trap and they had been captured. There was no further word of them until the Castro Government confirmed their capture.