Cuba Remembers the Victims of State-Sponsored Terrorism

Forty-nine years after the terrorist bombing of a Cubana de Aviación aircraft in mid-flight, justice for its perpetrators remains an unresolved global debt.

On October 6, 1976, pain and horror converged upon aircraft CU-455. On board were seventy-three people, including a small Korean delegation, a child, ten crew members, eleven Guyanese citizens, and the young members of Cuba's National Fencing Team, who were returning victorious from a regional event in Caracas.

There were no survivors. This monstrous act received decisive support from the CIA and was entrusted to the hired assassins Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, both of whom died years later without being held accountable for their many crimes.

The material authors, Freddy Lugo and Hernán Ricardo, were on the same flight as the unfortunate passengers and were firsthand witnesses to the team's joy, which was brimming with life and promise. None of this deterred them; they placed two explosive charges of C-4 and disembarked the flight without remorse during a stopover in Barbados.

The first signs of failure occurred just minutes after takeoff. Everything happened quickly, leaving no time for anything that could have saved the crew or passengers.

Cuba has not forgotten that fateful day. The terrible blow to the victims' friends and families was shared by the Cuban people, who lived through a period of mourning.

October 6th is a day dedicated to the memory of those who fell as victims of terrorism, an annual occasion that remains a duty and a commitment born from the soul.