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If there had been even one chapter of the John Birch Society in Havana prior to 1959, working to expose Castro as [John Birch Society founder] Robert Welch was at the time, Cuba would not have fallen to Communism.
--Major Pedro Diaz Lanz
Former chief of Fidel Castro's
air force
I am going to destroy The John Birch Society.
-- William F. Buckley
Major Pedro Diaz Lanz paid the above tribute to Robert Welch and The John Birch Society after defecting to the United States in mid-1959. Like many other Cubans, he once believed in Fidel Castro. So much so, in fact, that he transported supplies to Castro's guerrilla army and became chief of his small air force, a position he continued to occupy after Castro seized control of Cuba.