From our Tempus Fugit Bureau with some assistance from our Bureau of Dastardly Acts by JFK That Only Cubans Seem To Remember
As the clock ticks faster and faster for surviving veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion, commemorations of the event are sure to increase.
No mystery involved in this. Of the 1,414 brigade members who participated in the expedition, today only 537 survive, all aged between 80 and 90 years.
I remember the preliminary air raids in Havana as if it were yesterday. Columbia airfield was only a few blocks from my house, so the bombers flew right over our roof and when the bombs went off my mom came into my room screaming “We’re all going to die!”
Unfortunately, the plan to cripple Fidel Castro’s air force did not go as well as expected. And then John F. Kennedy pulled the plug on the whole operation, leaving all 1,414 men stranded.
Tres Fotutos came up with a great idea for another monument at the Brigade Memorial Park. How about a statue of JFK that can be constantly pelted with rotten food (or worse items), 24/7, for as long as there are any Cubans left in Miami?
Loosely translated from CiberCuba
Former Cuban members of Brigade 2506 and other exiles inaugurated a monument in Miami commemorating the 62nd anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
The monument was inaugurated last Wednesday amid torrential rains at the 2506 Assault Brigade Memorial Park at SW 2nd Street and 56th Avenue in Miami.
Commissioner Manolo Reyes participated in the ceremony, along with former brigade members and Cuban exiles who attended despite the floods that affected the city.
“This park and especially this new monument keep the memory of those who died, as well as all those who are still part of our community. I want to express my gratitude for fighting so bravely in the Bay of Pigs to see a free Cuba,” he said. Reyes, who had promised to improve the park last season.
The monument is a Cuban flag with raised images of the expedition members, who “in 1960 and 1961 traveled from the Opa-locka airport in Miami to Guatemala to be part of the more than 1,500 Cubans recruited, trained and equipped by the CIA during the administration of President Eisenhower to disembark and liberate Cuba from the communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro”.
I was shocked to learn how few survive. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of them over the years.
Funny stuff regarding the JFK statue.
The Brigade members were essentially toyed with, as if they had indeed been playthings or mere fichas, like tokens on a game board, and seen in that light, Kennedy had no reason to care much, if at all. He didn’t.
Humberto Lopez, great friend of my father and family, RIP. All Cuban heroes.
I’d like to see the flag in a free Cuba, remember Kennedy? My father and brother were at the Orange Bowl that December of 62.
I was at the Orange Bowl too…. way up, in the top row seats….
And the whole thing, of course, was just a political PR montaje for JFK to save face.