Army Special Forces Soldier David Arturo Baez Cruz defected to Nicaragua to fight alongside the Sandinista forces in 1980. David was born in Nicaragua into a fiercely patriotic family. When he was just three years old, his father, a Nicaraguan army officer led an attempted coup against President Anastasio Somoza. But the participants were betrayed by an informant in their ranks, and David’s father was arrested, tortured, and executed by the Somoza regime. His father’s murder left him with a lifelong hatred for the Somozas, who would later be supported by the United States in their fight against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista forces.
Fifteen years later, David enlisted in the US Army and joined Special Forces, serving with 3/7th in Panama and elsewhere. He was a talented and hardworking Soldier who even performed well during a tryout for SFOD-Delta, before an injury sidelined him. He also served on the Area Studies Team in Central America, known as the “Longhair team”. Trained in surveillance, counter surveillance, lock picking, source handling, airborne operations, demolitions, and nearly every other aspect of unconventional warfare, he was a valuable US asset in Central America.
Until he defected. David left the US Army and went back to Nicaragua to join the Sandinista Popular Army as an officer. He was never a Marxist, but aligned with a Marxist organization because it was preferable to the regime which had killed his father. He trained the Sandinistas in airborne operations in their fight against the Contras, who were armed and supported by the Central Intelligence Agency.
He eventually joined a raiding force of nearly 100 guerillas which crossed the border into Honduras to foment revolution there as well. In the spring of 1983 he finally met his fate at the hands of Honduran military forces, CIA paramilitaries, and US Army units from the Southern Command.
For episode 26 of the Spycraft 101 podcast I spoke with Greg Walker, an author and former Special Forces Soldier himself who has spent years researching and writing about David’s incredible story.
