Carlos Bringuier

Carlos Jose Bringuier was born in Cuba on June 22 1934. He studied at the University of Havana where he qualified as a lawyer in 1957.

An opponent of Fidel Castro and his government he moved to Guatemala in 1960. He also lived in Argentina before arriving in the United States in February, 1961.

Bringuier joined the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil, the Student Revolutionary Directorate (DRE), an anti-Castro group. Bringuier, based in New Orleans, was placed in charge of DRE publicity and propaganda.

On August 5 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald visited Bringuier at his clothing store in New Orleans and offered to join the fight against Castro. Two days later Oswald again visited the store and left his Guidebook for Marines for the absent Bringuier. On August 9 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was handing out Fair Play for Cuba leaflets. When Bringuier learned of this, he and two other Cubans, Celso Macario Hernandez and Miguel Mariano Cruz, confronted Oswald and a fight broke out. Oswald and the three Cubans were arrested. On August 12, Oswald was found guilty and fined $10. On August 21 Oswald debated the issue of Fidel Castro and Cuba with Bringuier and Edward Scannell Butler III on the Bill Stuckey Radio Show on station WDSU. During this show Bringuier made a series of accusations against Oswald and his organization with nothing to base them on, and then listed a series of figures on Cuban and Russian society that could be easily disputed for their extremism.

A short time later, Bringuier issued a press release warning the public about Lee Harvey Oswald. When Oswald was arrested for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22 1963, Bringuier gave his account of Oswald to the FBI and other authorities. He testified before the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (the Warren Commission) and in 1967 was involved in Jim Garrison's investigation of the assassination.

Bringuier is the author of two books: "Red Friday" and "Operation Judas", the latter available only in Spanish. He was played by Tony Plana in the 1991 film "JFK".