It quickly became clear -- even to his stunned American wife -- he had been a convincing double agent all along.

Even the FBI had hired the spy to spy for them, paying him thousands for information on Brothers to the Rescue.

He even wrote a book about his defection from Cuba entitled Deserter, published by the Cuban American National Foundation, which called comrades ''fat communists, heavy beer drinkers.''

He said he left behind a girlfriend and a son.

Roque quickly brought himself into contact with other former members of the Cuban armed forces who were now in the U.S. He founded the Support Center for Cuban Military, which used a shortwave radio to broadcast messages urging the Cuban military not to take up arms against the people in the event of a democratic uprising. After he appeared on Cuban television within days after he disappeared, authorities began to wonder for what else he used that radio.

He publicly denounced the exile pilot organization, accusing it of planning terrorist acts, including the assassination of Fidel Castro and said he had returned to Cuba to reveal to the world ''the true nature of Brothers to the Rescue.''

--DAVID KIDWELL