Editing Frank Sturgis (section)

==Cuban Revolution and CIA Involvement==
In 1956, Sturgis moved to Cuba, traveling to Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Honduras, immersing himself in Latin American revolutionary circles. In 1957, he relocated to Miami, where his uncle Angelo Vona’s Cuban wife introduced him to former Cuban president Carlos Prío Socarrás, who was plotting against dictator Fulgencio Batista. Sturgis joined anti-Batista exiles, smuggling arms to Fidel Castro’s July 26 Movement in Cuba’s Sierra Maestra Mountains, alongside friend Richard Sanderlin, a Norfolk native who trained Castro’s rebels in military tactics.

In 1958, Sturgis made contact with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at the U.S. Consulate in Santiago, Cuba, working as an informant under control officer Sam Jenis. He joined Castro’s forces, serving as a rebel captain and later as Air Force security and intelligence chief, overseeing Havana’s casinos in 1959. However, Castro’s intentions to break from the US's presence in Cuba confirmed by Raúl Castro and Che Guevara’s affiliations—Sturgis defected in July 1959 with Air Force chief Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz, joining the anti-Castro exile opposition in Miami. A 1959 photo shows him atop a mass grave of executed Batista supporters, highlighting his early revolutionary zeal.