The Lourdes SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) facility, located near Havana, Cuba, was the largest facility of its kind operated by Soviet and later Russian foreign intelligence services outside of Russia. Located less than from Key West, the facility covered . Construction began in July 1962.
The station purportedly closed in August 2002.
All station facilities were shut down, the buildings were abandoned and later reconstructed to become the University of Information Science.
At its peak during the Cold War over 1,500 KGB, GRU, Cuban DGI, and Eastern Bloc technicians, engineers and intelligence operatives staffed the facility.
The base closed in 2002. Russia had paid Cuba a $200 million annual subsidy from 1962 to 2002.
In July 2014 reports surfaced that Russia and Cuba had agreed to reopen the facility for usage by Russian intelligence.
In popular culture
The station was a key plot device in the August 28, 2012 episode of the USA television network series Covert Affairs episode "Loving the Alien".