In Memory of the Cubana 73

In Memory of the Cubana 73

Omnipotent Reality, I know that there will be ubiquitous justice. These victims’ souls and particles will continue to resonate in the Universe.

Rawle Aubrey Thomas (10/2/1957–10/6/1976)

Rawle, 19, was never able to become a medical doctor.  He had won a Guyana’s scholarship to pursue this dream.  But his young life was snuffed out in the Cubana disaster.   But, memories of how smart, talented, and compassionate he was lives on in our hearts.  On the morning of his departure from Georgetown to Havana, he visited our mother Clarice’s gravesite at Le Repentir Cemetery to say goodbye.        

Rawle, our youngest brother was aboard Cubana Flight 455 that began in Georgetown, Guyana, with stops in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and landed at Seawell International Airport in Barbados.  Its itinerary was to continue on to Kingston, Jamaica, before landing in Havana Cuba.  But this never happened, for the McDonnel Douglas four-engine DC-8 jet adorned with the Cubana Airline’s blue, white and red tail exploded in the sky after take-off over the Atlantic Ocean.  That was because two bombs that were planted by CIA-connected, anti-Castro exiles detonated after its departure from Seawell Airport. 

Aboard were 57 Cubans, 11 Guyanese and 5 Koreans that perished.  Kevin B. Blackiston described in an article, “1976 bombing that killed Cuban fencing team requires painful reflection,” wrote that the co-conspirators of this terrorist act - Luis Posada and Orlando Bosch were never punished, although investigations showed that they had hatched their plans during a meeting in Washington.  Posada originally tried to topple Castro by organizing the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.  After this incident he became an agent for the CIA, was trained at Fort Benning, and joined a series of U.S.-backed efforts to destabilize or overthrow the Castro regime.