Francisco Pérez Castro
{{Short description|Cuban exile (1942–2003)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Frank Castro
| image = Frank Castro.jpg
| birth_date = 1942
| death_date = 2003
| birth_place = Cuba
| death_place = Miami
| nickname = Frank Pérez
| branch = *Republic of Cuba Air Force
| battles = {{tree list}}
{{tree list/end}}
| spouse = Martica Pérez
| children = Frank Pérez Jr.
}}
Eulalio Francisco Castro Paz (Frank Castro or Frank Pérez) was a Cuban-American freedom fighter, anticommunist revolutionary, gang leader, arms dealer, terrorist group leader, intelligence operative, undercover agent, drug and narcotics smuggler, decades-long jewelry store owner, and pillar of the Little Havana community who has a street named after him in Miami.
Frank was a Cuban-born exile living in the United States who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and as a member of Brigade 2506 participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.{{Cite book |last=Republic of Cuba |url=https://archive.org/details/history-of-an-aggression/page/337/mode/1up?q=%22Francisco+Perez+Castro%22 |title=History of an Aggression: The Trial of the Playa Giron Mercenaries |date=1964 |publisher=Ediciones Venceremos, Havana}} Frank was a vocal critic of the Castro regime, and was a staunch anticommunist and anti-Castro activist (activista anticastra).{{Cite web |date=2024-09-07 |title=La CIA apadrinó los crímenes de Posada Carriles en la República Dominicana – Rebelion |url=https://rebelion-org.translate.goog/la-cia-apadrino-los-crimenes-de-posada-carriles-en-la-republica-dominicana/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc |access-date=2024-09-08 |language=es}}{{Cite web |date=January 23, 1998 |title=docid-32339848.pdf |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2018/docid-32339848.pdf |website=National Archives}}{{Cite web |title=A Tangled Embrace: What the JFK Papers Tell Us about the CIA's Anti-Castro Cuban Agents |url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/series/ethics-online/a-tangled-embrace-what-the-jfk-papers-tell-us-about-the-cias-anti-castro-cuban-agents |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=www.carnegiecouncil.org |language=en-US}} Castro hated Castro most of all, and spent his adult life in exile trying to topple his government in Cuba.
Life
Prior to the Cuban Revolution, Frank was a pilot in the Republic of Cuba Air Force. After the Revolution, Frank Castro escaped to Chicago, where he lived until the Bay of Pigs Invasion.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-04-17 |title=Frank Joyeria: Founded by a Brigade 2506 Veteran Celebrates 60 Years Serving Miami |url=https://medium.com/@calleochonewscom/frank-joyeria-founded-by-a-brigade-2506-veteran-celebrates-60-years-serving-miami-caa4aa103c11 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Calle Ocho News |language=en}} After the invasion failed, the members of brigade 2506 were held in Cuban prison until John F. Kennedy was able to negotiate their release from prison.
Frank, who went by Frank Pérez in his civilian life (the surname Castro often caused confusion), quickly became a jewelry store owner and community leader in Little Havana.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://frankjoyeria.com/about |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=FRANK JOYERIA |language=en-US}} The jewelry store that Frank started after being released from Cuban prison was called "Frank Joyeria," and is still managed by his two sons. In May 2024, city of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo designated a street in the community to be named "Frank Perez Avenue."{{Cite web |date=June 24, 2024 |title=Frank Perez Avenue: Commissioner Joe Carollo pays tribute to Bay of Pigs Veteran Frank Perez Avenue |url=https://medium.com/@calleochonewscom/frank-perez-avenue-commissioner-joe-carollo-pays-tribute-to-bay-of-pigs-veteran-frank-perez-avenue-f6a2f73d5336 |website=Calle Ocho News}}{{Cite web |title=Join Commissioner Carollo for "Frank Perez Ave naming in Little Havana |url=https://www.miami.gov/Notices/Events-Activities/Commissioner-Joe-Carollo-invites-you-to-a-ceremony-to-designate-a-street-in-Little-Havana-as-%E2%80%9CFrank-Perez-Avenue%E2%80%9D |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=www.miami.gov |language=en-US}}
Eventually, Frank became the leader of the Cuban National Liberation Front (FLNC), and planned several bombings in the Caribbean.{{Cite web |title=Anti-Castro Activities |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32248420.pdf |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=National Archives}} The United States Attorney's Office would call him the "most [dangerous] militant Cuban exile" in the world.{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Peter Dale |url=https://archive.org/details/cocainepoliticsd0000scot/page/28/mode/2up?q=%22Frank+Castro%22 |title=Cocaine politics : drugs, armies, and the CIA in Central America |date=1991 |publisher=Berkeley : University of California Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-520-07312-8}} Frank was also the leader of CORU.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation:
"Cuban National Liberation Front is a Cuban exile terrorist organization which was formed on October 1973, when several leaders from different groups participated in a sea attack against a Government of Cuba fishing boat. FLNC has claimed credit for about 25 acts of terrorism...{{Cite web |last=F.B.I. |date=August 16, 1978 |title=CORU Neutrality Matters, Cuba Anti-Castro |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB153/19780816.pdf |website=National Archives}}
...Frank Castro, present leader of CORU... has reportedly stated that CORU needs to plant magnetic type bombs on communist country ships in four different ports, and on simultaneous dates of departure. Further, such devices should have 24 hour delay activators causing explosions well after the victim ship leaves the port. This would increase any chances for the destruction of any evidence."
While he was the leader of CORU, the organization planned kidnappings, bombings, targeted assassinations, and funded their activities through illegal smuggling of drugs, weapons, and narcotics.{{Cite news |date=1983-07-13 |title=Drug bust |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-drug-bust/29193039/ |access-date=2024-09-10 |work=The Times |pages=9}} Frank was known to many as a drug kingpin, and is known to have had associations with Pablo Escobar and other narcotics dealers in the region.{{Cite web |title=APPENDICES |url=https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine2/append.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=irp.fas.org}}{{Cite web |title=Eulalio Francisco Castro Paz (Frank Castro) |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKcastroFr.htm |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=spartacus-educational.com}}{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/456310/Las%20alas%20del%20c%C3%B3ndor/page/51/mode/1up?q=%22Eulalio+Castro%22 |title=456310}} However, from direct sources, Frank readily admitted that he was only selling drugs to raise money for "the Revolution," and the overthrow of Fidel Castro.{{Cite book |last=Penta |first=Karl |url=https://archive.org/details/mercenarystale0000pent/mode/1up?q=%22Frank+Castro%22 |title=A mercenary's tale |date=2002 |publisher=London : John Blake |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-1-903402-59-7}} In 1976, Frank created two satellite branches of CORU: in Miami, the Youth of the Star, and in New York City, the "F-14."{{Cite web |date=October 14, 2020 |title=Anti-Castro Activities |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/docid-32248420.pdf |website=National Archives}}
He is recognized today by the government of Cuba as a terrorist.{{Cite web |date=2015-10-06 |title=Remembering the victims of the Barbados crime |url=https://en.granma.cu/cuba/2015-10-06/remembering-the-victims-of-the-barbados-crime |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=en.granma.cu |language=en}} He was implicated in the CORU terrorist bombing of Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 in October 1976 over Barbados, having been himself a co-founder and the leader of CORU. He was later implicated in the Iran–Contra affair, however there is no evidence that he was a Sandinista - but he did sell narcotics to raise money for the Nicaraguan revolution, and he did find the weapons to arm the Sandinista movement.
He has been accused of being involved in the Watergate scandal, as the FLNC was involved in the break-in.{{Cite web |date=June 16, 2022 |title=The Latino burglars of Watergate |url=https://www.axios.com/2022/06/16/watergate-latino-break-in-anniversary |website=Axios}}
The mercenary Karl Penta writes in his memoirs that Frank Castro was also a leader of Alpha 66:
"All the weapons came out: MAGs, Minimees, they even had a fifty-calibre mounted on an observation tower set up at the airfield. All the boys looked the part in uniforms with jungle boots and webbing full of ammunition, all courtesy of Frank Castro."