Antonio veciana biography

Antonio Veciana Blanch (October 18, 1928 – June 18, 2020) was a Cuban exile who became the founder and a leader of the anti-Castro group Alpha 66.
Antonio Veciana Blanch was a Cuban exile who became the founder and a leader of the anti-Castro group Alpha 66.
Antonio Veciana was born in Cuba.

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Summary

Antonio Veciana fought on the front lines of the CIA's decades-long secret war to destroy Fidel Castro, the bearded bogeyman who haunted America's Cold War dreams. It was a time of swirling intrigue, involving US spies with license to kill, Mafia hit men, ruthless Cuban exiles--and the leaders in the crosshairs of all this dark plotting, Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy.

Veciana transformed himself from an asthmatic banker to a bomb-making mastermind who headed terrorist attacks in Havana and assassination attempts against Castro, while building one of the era's most feared paramilitary groups--all under the direction of the CIA.

In the end, Veciana became a threat--not just to Castro, but also to his CIA handler. Veciana was the man who knew too much. Suddenly he found himself a target--framed and sent to prison, and later shot in the head and left to die on a Miami street. When he was called before a Congressional committee investigating the Kennedy assassination, Veciana held back, fearful of the consequences. He didn't reveal the identity of the CIA officer who di

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Spartacus Educational

Primary Sources

(1) Jay Mallin, The Miami Herald (23rd November, 1961)

A plot to kill Fidel Castro failed because a bazooka did not fire. This was revealed by a Cuban underground leader now in Miami.
In October of 1960 Antonio Veciana, 33, rented a three-bedroom apartment (No. 8-A) at Residencial Misiones No. 29 in downtown Havana. Veciana was a bank official. But Veciana had another responsibility: He also was head of the action and sabotage section of the Revolutionary Movement of the People, one of the major anti-Castro clandestine movements.
Veciana wanted the apartment for a very special reason. It provided an unobstructed view of the north terrace of the Presidential Palace, about 120 yards away.
Veciana moved his mother-in-law into the apartment and he set about preparing his plans. He and hid co-conspirators planned to assassinate Castro. But hitches, government vigilance and a lack of proper weapons caused endless delays.
Not until October of this year was the plan ready to be carried out. Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos had been touring t
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ANTONIO CARLOS VECIANA BLANCH AND OSWALD AUGUST 1963
ANTI-BATISTA ACTIVITIES
Antonio Veciana [201-312,966] was born October 18, 1928. He was the President of the Association of Public Accountants of Cuba. Prior to Castro's rise to power, Veciana, in collusion with bank employees, embezzled funds for the MIR which was described as a fund raising mechanism for the Second National Front of Escambray. From 1958 to 1961 Antonio Veciana was employed by Julio Lobo Olavarria, as a comptroller of his finance company, Banco Financiero.

JULIO LOBO
Julio Lobo spoke with R.E. Reichardt, Chief /Western Hemisphere/4/FI, on December 17, 1960. Julio Lobo "mentioned Veciana again and restated that Veciana is reliable. He said that he had received word that Veciana is systematically destroying the bank's records and the machine bookkeeping equipment in the bank. Also he felt that there had been some planning on Veciana's part for the wholesale sabotage of his sugar mills. Lobo did not know anymore of the details or status of this plan. Distribution: Original & 1 -C/WH/4 | WH/4/F