Vuelo «495», el trágico secuestro de un avión en la ruta Miami-Cuba que la historia parece haber olvidado.🛫🛬🤐😊 La joven cubana Omara González, de 16 años, llegaba tarde al aeropuerto de Miami donde la esperaban su abuelo y su primo para volver a Cuba. Era el 1 de noviembre de 1958, la situación estaba revuelta en la isla, faltaban apenas dos meses para el triunfo de la revolución que lideró Fidel Castro. Para Omara, ni para los 16 pasajeros que abordaron aquel día el Vuelo 495 de Cubana de Aviación en Miami rumbo a Varadero, en el occidente de Cuba, nada parecía indicar que iban a ser víctimas de una tragedia prácticamente ignorada por la historia. Su testimonio, como sobreviviente, es uno… More
The 16-year-old Cuban Omara Gonzalez was late at Miami airport where her grandfather and cousin were waiting for her to return to Cuba. It was on November 1, 1958, the situation was riot on the island, only two months left until the victory of the revolution led by Fidel Castro. For Omara, nor for the 16 passengers who boarded that day Cubana Aviation Flight 495 in Miami heading to Varadero, in the west of Cuba, there was no suggestion that they were going to be victims of a tragedy virtually ignored by the history. His testimony, as a survivor, is one of those collected by Colombian journalist Gerardo Reyes in his book Flight 495, in which he rescues this event barely treated in Cuba or the United States, despite five of the 14 passengers who died that day were of American citizenship. But why has this episode leading up to the history of enmity between the United States and Cuba not emerged among the mutual reproaches that both countrie s’ rulers from both countries for more than 50 years have launched? ′′ That’s an open question «, he told BBC Mundo Reyes, who collects more than ten years of investigation into the case in his book. He was not given a conclusive answer nor the testimonies of the survivors with whom he spoke-including one of the kidnapping suspects-nor the American diplomats who were then on the island, nor the documents of the time he consulted in national archives from Washington. What happened?
After several unjustified delays, according to Reyes, the 16 passengers-including a pregnant woman-boarded the Vickers Viscount turboprop plane and took their places for a flight that was barely 45 minutes long. ′′ When one is located at the time, this was a very serious thing, so that other facts will divert attention «. Kings reviewed cables from the time of consulates and embassies and found no pronouncement that someone asked for more clarity on this done. Omara got a front row seat from which she could better see the pilot s’ cockpit and also witnessed what happened when flight attendees were going to hand out immigration forms. Five men identified as members of the ′′ July 26 Movement ′′ (M-26-7) put on their uniforms in full flight and announced that the plane would be ′′ diverted ′′ to the eastern region of Cuba. The plane carried weapons and ammunition allegedly destined for rebels hiding in the Sierra Maestra, where Fidel Castro, accompanied by his brother Ra úl and members of the M2 6- 7 prepared the final coup against the Cuban government. However, the maneuver did not go well and after several attempts, about to run out of fuel, when the pilot attempted to land an emergency runway near Preston Sugar Central in Nipe Bay, went out to sea with a fateful result .. In total, 14 passengers died, including four children. elements of ′′ conspiracy ′′
According to Reyes, there were a number of elements that ′′ conspired so that history was not known and worst left in impunity «. ′′ At the debates in the US Congress USA. about the hemisphere there was talk about everything except this mishap «, said Reyes, who considers that at first there was ′′ implied support ′′ from the US. USA. to the Cuban Revolution. ′′ We are two months away from the revolution’s triumph, in Washington there is some enchantment with Fidel Castro because they thought it was the best output to end the corruption of the government of (Fulgencio) Batista «, he said. On the other hand, ′′ the revolution triumphs and the Castro s’ don’t want to know this, it was so obvious that the news agencies never published photographs of the tragedy «. Fidel Castro, leader of the revolution and one of the founders of the M-26, said he had not authorized the operation. ′′ The United States said it had no jurisdiction, so it did not investigate further the fact, and at two months Ra úl (Castro) said it had been a ‘heroic stupidity’ ′′ whereby the fact was somehow settled, which according to Kings, ′′ later it translates to impunity «. ′′ It was so impressive and they wanted to care so much for this revolution-it had a lot to do with public relations-that the fact was left out of history’s annals as the first hijacking of a US flight. USA, he added. Unsolved mystery
There’s one part the author has not been able to rebuild, and that’s how these young people prepared for the kidnapping, where they got the weapons from, and how they managed to hide them on the plane. Edmundo Ponce de Leon’s sister, one of the suspects – although he always kept his innocence – claims they were stolen from a weapons depot, since he had been in the Air Force and apparently had access to military installations. However, according to the author, they had to have ′′ the necessary complicity of the Cuban Aviation people in Miami ′′ who, in fact, tried to prevent a family of Americans with children from traveling. It was 16 passengers, four crew members and one baby in gestation. They survived less than half. The author’s theory is that they were ′′ boys who want to link up with the guerrilla movement, who were in Miami collaborating with the sale of revolution bonds, assisting in whatever they could…» and carried out the operation. ′′ What if I’m sure from the conversation with members of an agricultural education institute near Preston Central – where the accident occurred – is that someone in the movement was waiting for them and there was coordination «. Watch video 🚨 https://youtu.be/J4P3NU3ercw
By: Elvira Palomo
BBC World
December 18, 2015
Vickers Viscount model plane
SOURCE OF THE IMAGE, GETTY ·