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Delfín Fernández

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Delfin Fernandez.
Delfin Fernandez.

Delfín Fernández is a former Cuban spy who spent 15 years working for the Cuban counterintelligence department [1] in Cuba's counterintelligence's Department 11 [2] with the codename Agent Otto. [1] He defected from Cuba and moved to Spain in 1999. [3] He settled in Spain for five years, becoming one of Europe's most successful bodyguards. [2] In 2005 Fernández moved to Miami, Florida and as of 2006 he was waiting to get U.S. residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act. [2]

In 2005 he became a naturalized citizen of Spain. [citation needed]

Defection from Cuba

Fernandez, 44 in 2006, fled Cuba in 1999 after becoming disillusioned with Castro's communist regime. [3] As part of Fidel and Raúl Castro's inner circle, Delfín Fernández learned everything from why the Cuban leader incinerates his dirty underwear to his cravings for pricey Spanish ham. [2] He was once sent to Spain to bring $2,500 worth of the pata negra delicacy back to Cuba [2] because Fidel Castro had a penchant for imported cured Spanish hams and a paranoia about assassination. [3] Fernandez said that chief bodyguard, Bienvenido "Chicho" Perez, had told him that Castro had his underwear burned to foil any assassination plots with chemicals during laundering. [3]

His disillusionment with the regime, he said, and his ambitions for a better life compelled him to defect. [2] Fernandez said that Raúl, the head of the island's army and thought to be Castro's heir, had stolen millions of pounds from government coffers. [3] He claimed that Castro and his brother, Raúl, assembled incriminating dossiers on foreign businessmen who wanted to invest in Cuba. [3] Fernández recorded every word and movement of high-profile visitors to Cuba with a high-tech array of hidden microphones and video cameras. He worked for Cuba's notorious Department 11, set up to infiltrate hotels and travel agencies. There he acted as a spy under the cover of his official title as Operations Manager for the Guitart hotel chain, where guests could be open to blackmail. He bugged the hotel rooms of foreign politicians and businessmen under orders from Raúl. [1] Fernández said he carried suitcases with cash out of Cuba for the Castro brothers. [2]

Fernández said he defected in Spain in 1999 on a trip to Europe to drop off Raúl's daughter, Mariela Castro Espin, in Italy to visit her father-in-law and pick up a Rotweiller in Germany for Fidel. [2] Fernández was so close to Fidel that the dictator entrusted him with finding a pet rottweiler because of his contacts abroad. [1] According to former CIA analyst Brian Latell, a senior researcher at the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies, "A lot of the stories he told me were fascinating, and I found almost all of them to be highly credible." [2] Fernández has been an outspoken critic of the Castro government since he defected. [2]

He took out of Cuba numerous documents and photographs that would compromise and put Castro’s government in an embarrassing position. [citation needed]

Bodyguard

Fernández settled in Spain for five years, becoming one of Europe's most successful bodyguards. Among his clients in Spain: actors Antonio Banderas and his wife, Melanie Griffith, soccer star David Beckham, Spanish actresses Ana Obregón and Esther Cañadas, former Spice Girl Emma Buntonand several high-profile businessmen. [2] Before his defection, one of his key tasks was to spy on wealthy visitors to the island, including film stars Leonardo di Caprio and Jack Nicholson. [1] In 2004 he worked minding Hollywood star Antonio Banderas in Spain. [4]

Sports star scandal

According David Smith of the Observer, Fernandez worked for David Beckham for three months when he first moved to Madrid and in 2004 would sell personal information about his ex-boss's affairs with Rebecca Loos for £500,000. [5] Fernandez admitted he had been approached by paparazzi, who would follow Beckham everywhere. But he insisted that he had always turned down their lucrative cash offers to spill the beans. [6] Fernandez said that he saw Beckham kissing Rebecca Loos in the back of his car and that he drove them to the Santa Mauro hotel in Madrid three times. He said, ""I could see them kissing in the rear-view mirror. The car had dark tinted windows so nobody could see in from the outside. After that there were three more occasions I drove them to hotels in the early hours." Fernandez said that when they had their privacy Beckham and his assistant were "all over each other like teenagers". [4] Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham was said to be in tears over tabloid reports that her husband, "Becks," had been having a torrid affair with his former aide, Rebecca Loos. Beckham had been photographed clubbing with Loos who used to work for his management company. [7]

Public life

The Spanish media have embraced him, writing dozens of articles about his life as a Castro insider and bodyguard. He was also a consultant on an investigative book, Conexión Habana, by Spanish authors. [2]

After living in Spain for five years he arrived in Miami where he had a spot on a TV show on WJAN-Channel 41. [2] There, as a regular television guest, he caught the imagination of the Cuban community with his disclosures of Castro's habits and idiosyncracies and the workings of his inner circle. [3] Oscar Haza, a popular Spanish language talk show host on Channel 41, has invited Fernández on his show, A Mano Limpia, at least six times, firing up the ratings when he's a guest, said Channel 41 news director Miguel Cossío. The ratings were so strong that Channel 41 offered to let Fernández be a permanent guest on a new daily weekday show, Arrebatados, at 6 p.m., hosted by Maria Laria. [2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Couzens, Gerard (5 Oct2003). "Becks' minder is former Castro spy". Sunday Mirror. p. 19. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Corral, Oscar (23 Mar2006). "A former aide spills the dirt on Fidel Castro". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Mount, Harry (24 Mar2006). "Fearful Castro 'has underwear burnt'". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b Davies, Megan Lloyd (5 Apr2004). "I watch them kiss says guard". The Mirror. p. 7. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Smith, David (11 Apr2004). "The great Becks orgy". The Observer. p. 18. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ O’Brien, Sean (11 Jan2004). "Becks sacks all his Gobbyguards". The Sunday People. Retrieved 2006-07-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Beckham bending away from Posh?". The New York Daily News. Retrieved 2006-07-30.

See also


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