Enemy Activities Investigation Service

Enemy Activities Investigation Service
Servicio de Investigación de las Actividades Enemigas
Agency overview
FormedMarch 21, 1942
DissolvedEnd of World War II
Superseding agencyGroup for the Suppression of Subversive Activities
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionRepublic of Cuba
Operational structure
HeadquartersHavana

The Enemy Activities Investigation Service (SIAE) (Spanish: Servicio de Investigación de las Actividades Enemigas)[a][b] was a unit of the National Police of the Republic of Cuba during World War II dedicated to the investigation and hunting of Nazis, Abwehr agents, their allies in Spanish intelligence, and Imperial Japanese spies in the territory of Cuba.

From 1940 to 1944, the head of the SIAE was Mariano Faget Diaz.[1][2]

SIAE became the Group for the Repression of Subversive Activities (GRAS), which was eventually merged into the Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities (BRAC).[3]

The Chief of the National Police of Cuba at this time was Manuel Benitez Valdés, who was sometimes confused to be the Director of the SIAE.[1]

The Office of Strategic Services Liaison to SIAE at the beginning of the war was Ian Maxwell.[1]

Heinz Lüning was an espionage agent who spied for the Abwehr in Cuba during World War II and was later executed by Cuba.[4][5][6] Lüning was arrested by the SIAE and interred at the Princes Castle.[2] He was the only German spy executed on espionage charges in all of Latin America during World War II.[2]


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  1. ^ a b c Maxwell, Ian. "IT CAME TO LITTLE | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  2. ^ a b c Schoonover, Thomas David (2008). Hitler's man in Havana : Heinz Lüning and Nazi espionage in Latin America. Internet Archive. Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2501-5.
  3. ^ dice, Gray Barker (2023-09-02). "BI y Brac, dos diferentes órganos represivos". Revista Bohemia (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  4. ^ "The Abwehr's Man in Havana". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  5. ^ "J. E. HOOVER PRAISES CUBA ON SPY ARREST". New York Times. November 1, 1942.
  6. ^ "[Hitler's Man in Havana] | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved 2024-09-22.