As a member of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s inner circle, Dr. Julio Antonio del Marmol had access to the most secret information of the regime’s plans and operations.
As the Cuban revolution began in 1959, del Marmol was introduced to Castro by his father, a passionate patriot who believed whole-heartedly in democratic values and equality.
Del Marmol’s father was not only ideologically committed to the Cuban revolution, which said it would be “democratic,” but also provided financial support to Castro’s regime.
Castro, impressed by young del Marmol who was only 11 years old at that time, nominated him to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Young Commandos of the Rebel Army, del Marmol told The Epoch Times’ Crossroads program.
Having had interacted with Castro and Che Guevara on a regular basis, del Marmol was taken one day to a secret meeting where the revolutionaries were preparing to take over all Cuban private industries and businesses, from communication and electrical companies to food stands on the streets.
Guevara had said in the meeting that a government take over of the entire economy was the only way for the revolution to retain power and control, del Marmol recalled. The only way to ensure that people will do what the government wants them to do “is to take away their bread and butter,” Guevara had said.
Del Marmol quickly realized that the planned nationalization of Cuba’s economy would mean that his father, a businessman, would lose his life’s work, so he warned his father about the regime’s plans. But he said his father, dedicated to the cause, called him a traitor and drove him out of the family home.
Feeling down, del Marmol informed his uncle about the situation. But to his surprise, del Marmol, his uncle then revealed himself as a master spy working for the international intelligence community, including the CIA. That was when del Marmol joined his uncle’s spy network to become a brilliant, successful spy countering the communist oppression of Cuba. He was also the most hunted in Cuba.
“I came to be an intelligence source to the West, so powerful that I sent the fresh pictures from the fresh missiles that Russia put in Cuba,” del Marmol said. This accomplishment was so unbelievable that it took the intelligence community months to validate the information he had provided.
BY ELLA KIETLINSKA AND JOSHUA PHILIPP
