Mariano Faget Diaz

Mariano Faget y Diaz was a Cuban secret police commander and counterintelligence officer for over twenty years in the Republic of Cuba. Faget was the director of the Enemy Activities Investigation Service (SIAE), where he was responsible for hunting Nazis and Abwehr agents in the Republic of Cuba during World War II. With the rise of the Cold War, Faget was made Director of the Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities (BRAC). He is regarded by many Cuban and American historians today as one of the most violent anticommunist police officers in Cuban history, but also its most shrewd and intelligent Nazi hunter.

Ironically, Faget's son—also named Mariano Faget—was arrested by the United States in 2000 on charges of espionage for the very communist regime that Faget fought so hard against in the 1950s. The junior Faget denied these charges.

Early life Faget was born on September 9, 1904, in Holguín, Cuba. He earned a degree from St. John's College in New York City. Thomas D. Schoonover writes that Faget at this time did not have a reputation for brutality. This was known by many as the "Dark Bureau." He was second in command of the organization.

Plot to kidnap or kill Faget's son In 1957, Faget's son was targeted by the revolutionaries for kidnapping, and the Cuban intelligence uncovered a plot to kill or kidnap Mariano Faget Jr. at Colegio Cima, the private school that he attended.

The Department of Justice admitted that Faget was working for them “to keep Castro agents from coming into the United States.” An unnamed official at the DOJ said: “To get this job of screening done properly, we would deal with the devil himself.”

Historian Carl J. Bon Tempo writes:"Cuban refugee groups in the United States complained that the colonel seemed more interested in investigating the role that refugees may have played in the downfall of the Batista regime than he did in eliciting intelligence on the Castro government or uncovering saboteurs and spies."

Illness and death In 1965, Faget became ill with a retinal detachment, and could no longer work full-time. In 1972, Faget died after a battle with cancer.