Cubans Remember Victims of Barbados Crime

Cuban sports movement and the entire country remembered this October 6th the bombing of a Cubana airplane in Barbados that killed 73 people, including the youth fencing team.

Commemorative events and meetings with relatives mark the tribute to the victims of this terrorist act, which occurred 39 years ago and that still claims for justice.

Activities include the traditional pilgrimage to the Colon Cemetery and the main event at the School of Formation of High Performance Athletes, Cerro Pelado.

In the aircraft were 11 young Guyanese that were going to study medicine in Cuba, five officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and 57 Cubans, including 16 fencers from the youth team, with trainers, technicians and managers. Athletes returned to their country covered with glory, because they had won all the gold medals in the Central American and Caribbean Championship in Caracas, in the junior division.

However, terrorists of Cuban origin Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch – who used two Venezuelans to carry out the crime, Hernán Ricardo and Freddy Lugo- frustrated their dreams of reaching the awards in the Olympic Games with the criminal sabotage on that October 6, 1976.

The confessed authors of this act still enjoy impunity, backed by the silence of the American governments, self-proclaimed champions of the fight against terrorism, while giving shelter to notorious murderers in their territory.

They were arrested by the Venezuelan justice days later, but they also managed to escape from prison despite the claims of all the families of the martyrs and the Cuban people.

Facing the overwhelming evidence, the United States tried to evade the trial for fear that Washington’s relations with the protagonists of that awful fact came to light.