Expelled Spy Identified at the Cuban Embassy in Paris

Cuba Confidential/

Being expelled from the United States 25 years ago seems to have really slowed down the career of Cuban Intelligence officer Virgilio Lazaro Lora Quesada.  Now serving in Paris as the Political Counselor, Lora was one of two officials at the Cuban Interests Section ordered to leave on July 15, 1987.  Then a Third Secretary, Lora and Bienvenido Abierno, the Acting Chief of the Interests Section, were not publicly identified as Intelligence Officers at the time. Instead, their expulsion was portrayed as retaliation for Cuban harassment of US diplomats in Havana.  However, in September 1987, Cuban defector Florentino Azpillaga Lombard identified Lora as a spy during a Radio Marti broadcast.  Congressional Representative Dante Fascell queried the State Department regarding Azpillaga’s claims, after which the State Department acknowledged that both diplomats were spies expelled for their recruitment efforts against Cuban-Americans.