Antonio Veciana is one of the most swashbuckling figures
from the underground war against Fidel Castro in the 1960s and
'70s. A former bank accountant in pre-revolutionary Havana, Veciana
turned himself into a daring leader of the anti-Castro movement,
organizing multiple assassination attempts and founding one of the
most militant Cuban exile groups, Alpha 66, under the secret
guidance of the CIA. He lives in Miami, Florida.
Carlos Harrison is a former reporter for the Miami Herald,
where he won the Pulitzer Prize, and has worked as a national and
international correspondent for Fox News. He is the author of
fourteen books in English and Spanish, and has written numerous
magazine articles and award-winning television documentaries. He
lives in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
"A tale with all the twists, turns and action sequences of a
‘Bourne’ film.” —New York Post
"Trained to Kill is not another tinfoil hat Kennedy-conspiracy
book—declassified CIA cables confirm Veciana’s working relationship
with the agency and even his code name, AMSHALE-1. The book is a
soldier’s story about what he saw on the front lines of the
Cuban-American struggle for power." —Newsweek
"Astonishing." —Daily Mail
“Trained to Kill is one of those essential books that ‘our free
press’ is all too likely to ignore, because of all the awful truth
between its covers—especially its shattering confirmation that
David Attlee Phillips of the CIA did introduce the author to Lee
Harvey Oswald just weeks before the assassination of John Kennedy.
While thus exploding the old myth of Oswald as ‘lone gunman,’ this
chilling memoir also sheds new light on Che Guevara’s murder,
Operation Condor, and the fanatic amorality behind the management
of US covert operations.” —Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media,
culture, and communication at New York University and author of
Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform
“Antonio Veciana’s Trained to Kill is one of the most important
historical documents to have emerged in the U.S. in the past
decade. This inside story of the CIA plots to kill Fidel Castro,
President John F. Kennedy and Che Guevara not only makes for
riveting reading, it also shines a stark light on the darkest
corners of U.S. covert operations in the 1960s and ’70s. In one of
the most dramatic episodes in a book filled with them, Veciana
confirms that his CIA handler—a smooth and ruthless rising star at
the agency named David Atlee Phillips—was also running Lee Harvey
Oswald. This is a real history of American power, one that is
destined to disturb and enlighten any citizen who can handle the
truth.” —David Talbot, founder of Salon and New York Times
bestselling author of The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the
CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government
"Antonio Veciana is a witness to history who cannot be ignored.
Laconic and lucid, this crafty accountant tells the story of his
deadly operations against Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. He details
the intimate dealings he had with top CIA officers. And his story
culminates in a perilous series of events that exposed a dangerous
truth and changed Veciana’s way of thinking: his suave CIA handler,
David Phillips, had played a role in the ambush of President
Kennedy in Dallas. In telling his story with candor and humility,
Veciana demonstrates the courage of a now-peaceful
warrior.”—Jefferson Morley, author of The Ghost: The Secret Life of
CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
"At long last, the primary leader of the CIA-backed, anti-Castro
group of Cuban exiles has come forward to shatter the Warren
Commission's finding that the assassination of President Kennedy
was the work of a 'lone nut.' Antonio Veciana's story should revise
the history books." —Dick Russell, New York Times bestselling
author of The Man Who Knew Too Much
"From Havana to Santiago to New York, Antonio Veciana plotted to
kill Castro. This book describes those plots and his other attempts
to reverse Cuba’s Marxist revolution. His was a true terrorist
campaign before the phrase became a commonplace of journalism. But
Veciana planned his acts of murder and mayhem as an agent of the
American government, more specifically the CIA. This well-written,
candid, and exciting book describes his Agency career and provides
a memorable portrait of his recruiter and manager. The legendary
David Phillips—the man who likely had a role in the conspiracy to
kill JFK—comes alive and inhabits these pages as he does in no
other book you will read." —James DiEugenio, author of Reclaiming
Parkland
“As was once said about him and the words in these pages confirm,
Antonio Veciana is one of history’s most important individuals.
Whether as the CIA’s point man in Havana in post-revolutionary
Cuba, the mastermind behind the legendary anti-Castro exile group
Alpha 66, or the unwitting witness to Lee Harvey Oswald’s meeting
with his CIA handler at an office building in Dallas days before
the JFK assassination, Mr. Veciana’s unflinching and courageous
confessional memoir definitively answers so many of the baffling
questions raised by CIA’s operations in the twentieth century—and
his answers both illuminate and disturb.” —Fernand R. Amandi,
Bendixen & Amandi International
“Antonio Veciana had a compelling mission in life, to help free his
countrymen from a ruthless dictator. His long, painful path towards
freedom intersected with my husband’s passion to help solve the
mystery of the death of President Kennedy. Veciana’s startling
revelation that he saw his CIA mentor, Maurice Bishop, with Lee
Harvey Oswald, led my husband on his own mission to identify
Bishop.” —Marie Fonzi
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