Florentino "Tiny" Aspillaga defected that fateful summer in 1987 in the midst of the turbulent and historic years of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's Glasnost and Perestroika but still four years before the total collapse of the Soviet empire. Aspillaga had served with distinction in the elite ranks of the DGI and had even received a personal commendation from Fidel Castro. After Aspillaga began working with the CIA, he immediately exposed dozens of Cuban double agents, who had infiltrated American intelligence, political and cultural institutions, as well as various anti-Castro groups.
Former CIA analyst Brian Latell who used to run the Latin America section of the Agency has written both elaborate and comprehensive in "After Fidel", "Castro's Secrets", and "History will absolve me" about Florentino Aspillaga's defection in 1987 and the immediate consequences.