Gerard Droller was born in Germany. He worked with
Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the
Maquis in
France during
World War II. On 21 April 1959, Droller had a three-hour meeting with
Fidel Castro in a hotel room in
New York City after the latter's visit to Washington. In June 1960, Droller was sent to Miami, as Chief Political Action (C/WH/4/PA) under
Jacob Esterline to help organize the overthrow of
Fidel Castro in Cuba. Adopting the name
Frank Bender, he posed as a wealthy steel tycoon. His main task was to recruit and organize the political leaders of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the Miami area, assisted by
E. Howard Hunt alias "Eduardo". He recruited
Manuel Artime who became the leader of
Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Recovery Movement), (MRR), and later
Brigade 2506. During 1960 and 1961, Droller organized the setting up of training camps for Cuban exiles at
Useppa Island, Florida, and at
Retalhuleu, Guatemala by arrangement with Guatemalan president
Miguel Ydigoras. He helped recruit Cuban exiles into a paramilitary force subsequently named Brigade 2506 that, with considerable finance from the CIA, carried out the abortive invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on 17 April 1961. He did not speak Spanish, and he was not universally liked by the Cuban exiles. ==See also==