Rafael del Pino (Cuban)
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- For the Spanish billionaire, See Rafael del Pino (Spaniard).
Rafael del Pino is a Cuban airplane pilot and political dissident. He was born in Pinar del Río on September 22, 1938 and currently lives somewhere between France and the United States.
Del Pino joined Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement at the age of 17, in December 1955. He was arrested and sent to prison in early 1957. After his release went to exile in Venezuela were was also arrested for during the uprising against dictator Marcos Pérez Jiménez.
In early 1958, he returned to Cuba and joined Fidel Castro’s guerrillas in the mountains of Sierra Maestra. By the end of the war against Batista dictatorship, Del Pino was a first lieutenant.
After the Cuban Revolution, he joined the new Cuban Air Force at the beginning of 1959 and began his flying training to become a fighter pilot. In April 1961, he participated in the Bay of Pigs battle against the invasion organized by the United States. Flying a T-33, he shot down two invading B-26 and sunk several enemy vessels. During the three-days battle, Rafael del Pino flew 25 combat missions. As a result of the decisive role of the pilots during this historic event, president Fidel Castro declared them "Heroes of Playa Giron".
During the October 1962 Nuclear Missile Crisis, General Rafael del Pino was assigned to assist President Fidel Castro in all matters regarding the Air Force.
In 1987, however, Del Pino's antagonism with Fidel Castro’s regime reached the maximum level and decide to break with the dictatorship on May 28 of that year, flying in a twin engine Cessna 402 to Key West, Florida, with all of his family.
Del Pino thereafter has become an active promoter of Western democracy for Cuba.
[edit] Life chronology
- 1965 Graduated from the Air Force War College “Yury Gagarin” in the Soviet Union.
- 1965-1968 Commander of the Air Force and Air Defenses Eastern Cuban Region.
- 1969 First round of duties in North Vietnam as an adviser.
- 1975 Second round of duties. This time with the Viet-Com in Da-Nang and Saigon.
- 1975-1977 Commander in Chief of the first Cuban Air Force Expeditionary Force in Africa.
- 1983 Promoted to Brigadier General
- 1984 Commander of the special program “Masters of Air Combat” (Equivalent to Red Flag in USA)
- 1985 Promoted to Deputy Chief of the Cuban Air Force and Air Defense (DAAFAR)
- 1986 Becomes one of the main critics of the fruitless Cuban military intervention in Africa.
