Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz, first Chief of Cuban Revolutionary Air Force. (born in Havana) ** Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz, primer Jefe de la Fuerza Aerea revolucionaria cubana.Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz (November 8, 1926, Havana, Cuba – June 26, 2008) was Chief of the Revolutionary Air Force of Cuba under Fidel Castro, before and after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
His grandfather fought in the ranks of cuban mambises and his father was a high official of the Cuban constitutional army until 1930.
Se graduó de bachillerato en 1944 y cursó estudios como mecánico de aviación. En 1946, con apenas 20 años, comenzó a pilotear aviones.
In 1957, Pedro Díaz Lanz joined Fidel Castro’s rebel group in Santiago, Cuba. He was employed as a commercial pilot with the airline Aerovías Q. He later acted as head of the Revolutionary Air Force, and during 1958 he smuggled weapons and ammunition from Costa Rica and Florida into Cuba by air.
After the Cuban Revolution on 1 January 1959, he was confirmed as head of the new Revolutionary Air Force as well as Castro’s personal pilot. Within months, he became vocal about his opposition to the influence of communists on the new revolutionary government. On 29 June 1959, Fidel Castro relieved him of his post, and he left immediately by boat to Florida, with his second wife and 3 of his six children, and reportedly with Frank Sturgis, a fellow anti-communist.
Life after Cuba.
On 14 July 1959, Díaz was interviewed by the US Senate Internal Security subcommittee, where he gave out the first account of Fidel’s planned move towards communism.
On 21 October 1959, one of his most notorious actions was flying a twin-engined bomber (variously reported as a B-25 or B-26) over Havana while dropping anti-communist leaflets, along with his brother Marcos Diaz Lanz. Diaz Lanz piloted and Marcos threw the leaflets down from an open bomb hatch. The unsuccessful gunfire from armed forces on the ground caused injuries and deaths, leading to unsubstantiated reports of bombs being dropped from the aircraft.
He was recruited by the CIA, and became a member of Operation 40, a group of CIA operatives who specialized in carrying out secret Anti-Castro assassinations and sabotages.
Díaz committed suicide at the age of 81 in 2008 after years of poverty and depression with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Agencies/Various/Wiki/InternetPhotos/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.