Gustavo Grillo
Gustavo Grillo was a American mercenary jailed in Angola in 1976 and released in 1982.[1]
Grillo was a Marine platoon leader at the battle of Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. He served 18 months imprisonment in the United States for armed robbery.[2]
At his trial in Angola, Grillo claimed he and his colleagues were financed by the CIA.
- "They paid us in new $100 bills," said Gustavo Grillo, an Argentine-born naturalized American. "It was logical that it came from the CIA. We also had American military equipment."
- Under lengthy cross examination by the tribunal, Grillo said he believed there were CIA agents inside northern Angola "to see how their money was spent and see what was happening.[3]
After his release, the Washington Post wrote of Grillo's remarks at the trial:
- Grillo refused to talk about his severe criticism of the United States during the trial where he called U.S. society "a monster," a society of power seekers, status seekers, waste makers where the weak get weaker and the strong get stronger.
- At the time, reporters at the trial interpreted the remarks as an attempt to avoid execution since there were allegations that he had killed some Angolan soldiers.[4]
External Resources
- NameBase GRILLO GUSTAVO MARCELO
- UPI, Viet Veteran says CIA paid mercenaries, Beaver Country Times, 14 June 1976.
Notes
- ↑ United Press International, February 28, 1984, Tuesday, PM cycle, SECTION: International.
- ↑ Jay Ross, 'Romantic' Ex-Mercenary Says He Would Return to Angola, Washington Post, 18 November 1982.
- ↑ UPI, Viet Veteran says CIA paid mercenaries, Beaver Country Times, 14 June 1976.
- ↑ Jay Ross, 'Romantic' Ex-Mercenary Says He Would Return to Angola, Washington Post, 18 November 1982.