Manuel Piñeiro Losada (14 March 1933 - 11 March 1998), also known as Commander Barbarroja (es: "red beard") was a Cuban political and military figure, a leader of the Cuban Revolution, and, between 1961 and 1964, the first head of the Dirección General de Inteligencia of Cuba. Under Piñeiro, the DGI supported armed struggles in Latin America, helping radical leftist guerrilla groups in the region. Between 1964 and 1968, Piñeiro acted as the Deputy Minister of the Interior of Cuba, during this time he was in charge of the state security apparatus. A Soviet reorganization of the DGI forced Piñeiro out of his position, and he was placed in charge of the DGI's Latin American affairs division. Biography Manuel Piñeiro Losada was born on 14 March 1933 in Matanzas, Cuba. His family, who had immigrated to Cuba from the Spanish region of Galicia, was relatively prosperous -- his father was a Bacardi executive. After participating in the student protests against the 10 March 1952 coup d'état which brought dictator Fulgencio Batista to power, Piñeiro's family sent him to study business management at Columbia University in New York. There, he met his first wife, Lorna Burdsall, whom he married in 1955. While studying in the United States, Piñeiro began to oppose the social, racial, and political discrimination he saw there and felt the need to return to Cuba. He returned in 1955 and became a founder of the 26th of July Movement. Soon after returning to Cuba, Piñiero was arrested by Batista's security agencies because of his underground political activities. After his release, he continued his clandestine activities in Havana. He discovered that he was under police surveillance, and decided that it was better to leave for the Eastern Sierra Maestra mountain range and join the guerrillas headed by Fidel Castro. After the Cuban Revolution, Piñiero was appointed Deputy Minister of the Interior and the head of the Technical Viceministerio, the body that would be later responsible for gathering intelligence and developing strategies to expand communism in Latin America. In 1997, Piñeiro announced his retirement, resigning from all active government positions. He began to write and edit books about his experience in the Cuban Revolution. Piñeiro died in a car accident on March 11, 1998. He was on his way home after receiving a tribute commemorating the creation of the Eastern Front. Role in the Cuban Revolution In March 1958, he