We Shall Never Forget!
As we commemorate the 38th Anniversary of the October 06, 1976 terrorist attack on Cubana Airline Flight 455 flying from Bridgetown Barbados to Havana Cuba, we must pause to reflect on the lives of the murdered innocent 73 passengers and crew.
The victims were 57 Cuban, among whom were the Cuban national youth fencing team, 5 North Koreans and 11 Guyanese, a number of whom were young academic scholarship winners traveling to Cuba to pursue studies in medicine.
The names of the Guyanese murdered in this terrorist attack are:
- Eric Norton – age 18 – student
- Ann Nelson – age 18 – student
- Seshnarine Kumar – age 18 – student
- Jacqueline Williams – age 19 – student
- Rawle Thomas – age 18 – student
- Raymond Persaud – age 19 – student
- Margaret Bradshaw – The wife of a Guyanese Diplomat
- Gordon Sobha – Economist
- Sabrina Harripaul – age 9 – related to Violet and Rita Thomas
- Violet Thomas – related to Sabrina Harripaul and Rita Thomas
- Rita Thomas – related to Sabrina Harripaul and Violet Thomas
Terrorist masterminds
Cuban, Venezuelan and Trinidadian law enforcement authorities identified the perpetrators as Herman Ricardo Lozano and Freddy Lugo, and their handlers and controllers, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch of the counter-revolutionary Cuban mafia organization, “CORU”.
Orlando Bosch Ávila and Luis Posada Carriles remain free in the United States of America for years, Bosch, until his death on April 27, 2011.
Orlando Bosch Ávila was born on August 18, 1926 in the village of Potrerillo, 150 miles east of Havana, he was a Cuban exile, former Central Intelligence Agency-backed operative, and head of Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, which the FBI has described as “an anti-Castro terrorist umbrella organization”. Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh called Bosch an “unrepentant terrorist.” Bosch’ role in the terrorist attack is alleged to have been plotted at a 1976 meeting in Washington, D.C. attended by Bosch, Luis Posada Carriles, and DINA (Chilean secret police in the government of Augusto Pinochet) agent Michael Townley. At the same meeting, the assassination of Chilean former minister Orlando Letelier is alleged to have been plotted. Bosch was given safe haven within the US in 1990 (some reports says pardoned on July 18, 1990 of all American Charges) by President George H. W. Bush, who in 1976 as head of the CIA had declined an offer by Costa Rica to extradite Bosch. Orlando Bosch Ávila died on April 27, 2011 in the USA.
Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles was born on February 15, 1928 in Havana, Cuba and nicknamed Bambi by some Cuban exiles is a terrorist and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He helped organize the Bay of Pigs invasion, and after it failed, became an agent for the CIA. He received training at Fort Benning, Georgia and from 1964 to 1968 was involved with a series of bombings and other anti-Castro covert activities. In 1968 he migrated to Venezuela is alleged to have maintained ties to the CIA as late as 1976. He was convicted in absentia in Panama of involvement in various terrorist attacks and plots in the Americas, including 1976 terrorist attack on the Cuban airline. Posada and Orlando Bosch was involved in founding the Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations, described by the FBI as a terrorist outfit. In 1985, he re-established links to the CIA, and moved to Central America, where he became involved with United States support to the Contras, and later admitted to playing a part in the Iran-Contra affair. It is alleged that Posada sought US Citizenship under a law applying to non-citizens who served honorably in the US military.
Terrorism in the sky – 1976
37th Anniversary of Terrorist Attack on Cubana Flight 455
All suspects are still at large or dead and justice has never been served.
We must never forget
