Under the gentle Caribbean light, a Cubana de Aviacion plane took off from Barbados on October 6th, 1976. On board were 24 members of the Cuban youth fencing team. Which had won all the titles at the recently concluded Pan American Games in Venezuela.
An official delegation from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, young Guyanese students in Cuba. And the 10 crew members who made it a routine and happy flight.
A few minutes after takeoff, still over the warm beaches of Barbados, an explosion shook the plane. Shortly after, a second explosion shattered the final fate of so many lives, sacrifices, and dreams.
In the blink of an eye, 73 innocent people were condemned to an instant and violent death. Victims of one of the most atrocious crimes ever known.
The visible faces of such a cruel act: Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, along with the evidence linking them to the United States Central Intelligence Agency and radical groups based in South Florida.
Those were difficult and sad days. An entire country mourned its dead and condemned the horrendous crime. In his farewell speech, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro made it clear: “Pain is not shared; pain is multiplied. And when an energetic and virile people cry, injustice trembles.”
Thus, beneath the warm waters of the Caribbean, rest the remains of those whose bodies were never recovered. And alongside them, the souls of the family members who were unable to say goodbye.
As another year passes since this tragedy, their memory is renewed as a permanent reminder of the human cost of terrorism. This event, etched in the national memory, becomes a tribute to the victims. Whose legacy of talent and hope endures as the most eloquent outcry against the violence and impunity that still awaits justice today.
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