Former Cuban Air Force Brigadier General to Present UA Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Brig. Gen. Rafael del Pino, who was second-in-command of the Cuban Air Force during Fidel Castro’s regime, will present a lecture on his book, “Inside Castro’s Bunker,” Monday, June 8 at 3 p.m. in room 256, the Robel Room, of ten Hoor Hall on The University of Alabama campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

“Inside Castro’s Bunker” tells the story of how Del Pino joined Castro’s forces as a teenager and rose through the ranks to become a general. It provides an insider’s look at the Cuban military and political elites.

Del Pino joined the Cuban Revolution in 1956 and served under Castro through the 1980s. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1983 and named deputy chief of the Cuban Air Force and Air Defenses, a position he occupied until he defected to the United States with his family in 1987.

During his service, he was declared a Hero of the Bay of Pigs by Castro in 1961 and served as Air Force assistant to Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.

He graduated from the Soviet Air Force’s Yuri Gagarin War College in 1965. He also served two tours in Vietnam alongside the North Vietnamese, commanded the air forces of the Cuban Expeditionary Force in Angola, and he commanded Operation Pico in 1977 against the Dominican Republic.

He became a critic of Cuban’s military intervention in Africa, and, after his defection, he became an active promoter of Western democracy for Cuba.

While in Alabama, Del Pino will also visit Maxwell Air Force Base for its annual “Gathering of Eagles” program in which the base invites prominent pilots from around the world to speak about their experiences to United States Air Force officers and pilots.

The lecture is sponsored by UA’s Emeriti Committee on Strategic International Relations, the Office of the President, department of history, and Latin American, Caribbean and Latino studies program.