CUBANS living and working in Trinidad and Tobago recently joined with counterparts in their homeland to mourn and remember the lives of 73 passengers and crew members killed, 39 years ago, in the terrorist bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in neighbouring Barbados.
The Cuban embassy at Coblentz Gardens, St Ann’s, hosted a ceremony recently to commemorate the anniversary, and ambassador to this country Guillermo Vazquez Moreno described the bombing as “one of the most abominable acts in the history of terror against Cuba.” “We cannot say that the pain is shared. The pain is multiplied.
Millions of Cubans mourn today with the beloved ones of the victims of the abominable crime. When an energetic and forceful people cry, injustice trembles,” Moreno said.
He recalled that on October 6, 1976, the terrorist bombing which he also referred to as the “vile murders” claimed the lives of 73 innocent people on board. The victims included nationals from Guyana, Korea and Cuba, most of whom were in the prime of their lives.
The Cuban junior fencing team was also on the flight and their deaths “shook the fibers of the nation of Cuba” . “ Thirty -nine years later, the families of the 73 victims are still awaiting justice.
The main culprits have not been punished and continue their criminal career.
( The people) who conceived, planned and led the genocidal action, have long history of terrorism,” Moreno told the gathering.
He noted that on October 6, 2015, his home-country paid tributes to 5,577 Cubans who have died, or have become permanently disabled, as a result of acts of terrorism committed against Cuba for more than five decades. “Cuba has reasons and enough moral strength to demand justice for the crime and the long list of outrages committed against the country over more than half a century.