Felipe Rivero Diaz

Felipe Rivero Diaz (January 23, 1924 – April 14, 2005) was an anti-Castro Cuban exile who fought against the regime of Fidel Castro as a member of Brigade 2506 in the landings at Playa Girón during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Rivero soon became an ideological leader of the anti-Castro movement. Rivero was the director, and one of seven creators of the Cuban Nationalist Association (which later changed its name to the Cuban Nationalist Movement (MNC)), which was the first Cuban exile organization to use terror tactics. The MNC was responsible for several terrorist bombings throughout the Americas, including an attempted assassination of Che Guevara during an attack on the Headquarters of the United Nations, and the bombing of the Cuban embassy in Ottawa. Later in life, Rivero became a radio host at WRHC (AM), where he was known to the community of Little Havana as a Holocaust denier and Fascist.

Early life Rivero was born into the wealthy Rivero family, and while he did not possess the title of Count of Rivero, his uncle was José Ignacio Rivero, and his first cousin was José Ignacio Rivero.

Life as an anti-Castro rebel When Fidel Castro assumed full control of the Cuban government in 1959, the Rivero family were considered enemies of the state for publishing anti-Castro articles in Diario de la Marina.

In 1959, Rivero escaped Cuba aboard a fishing boat, and sought refuge in the United States.

Rivero defiantly refuted his interrogators in front of Castro, saying:

"No, we are not mercenaries! No, we are not all ex-millionaires playboys in the pay of the Yankees! There are men of all classes and races in this brigade. We came to fight communism, period!…do you think that because I know I’m going to the firing squad I’m going to insult my brother freedom-fighters?"

In 1963, Rivero was named Vice Secretary General of the Cuban Government in Exile. Rivero traveled with Paulino Sierra Martinez to Colombia and Nicaragua "to discuss plans for a military base of operations outside the United States."

In 1967, an immigration trial was held, where Rivero was ordered to be deported from the United States. Thousands of Cubans protested his detention by US authorities. Rivero went on a hunger strike.

In 1976, many historians have concluded that Rivero helped plan the assassination of Orlando Letelier alongside the security forces of Augusto Pinochet.

Later life In 1992, as a radio host for WRHC (AM), Rivero hosted David Duke during the neo-Nazi's political campaign that year. After this, many members of the Little Havana community, and others in the Miami community, realized that Rivero was a Holocaust denier. ''