CRIPPLED CUBAN STANDS HOURS TO GREET RETURNING FRIENDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100390009-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 29, 1999
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: December 24, 1962
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR DEC 2 4 1962
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-
CPYRGHT
CrippledCubariStands Hours
To Greet Retu n i?a Friends
l
rik' iVitrit'A1 writer '
1 *-,
rAVr bee. 24.?Juan Fi-
teras. who is 24 atiet 'Who, lost
I is right leg at the Say of Pigs
It April, 1961, ' stood on his
crittChes at Homestead Air
Force Base until the early hours
this Morning'. '
4 ' "Vjust got my new leg and
t'hints to 'Wear it but 1 want
the rnucrachos corning from
Castro's : isons to see me with
L to make, them feel better."
When ' "the first prisoners?
they call themselves "mucha-
Cher or "boys"?began getting
off the first plane from Cuba
here, at 6:06 o'clock last night,
'hey did indeed see sniffing
.'uan Figueras. There were 109
of the ransomed prisoners of
'he invasion on that plane and
duan exchanged lusty back-
llapping embraces with fully
.ialf of them.
But Juan, most of all, was
?viaiting , for the arrival Of his
')rother; Wifredo, 22, who was
lot on the, first few flights
rom; Cuba to , the United
States. The young men's sister,
VIiss NorY rig*raS, 5, of 4600
,...,,,,
Sixteenth street was un-
able to leave ashington for
..the reunion. Theli? Parents are
still in, Communist Cuba.
' Eager for R4iiniort
Wifre's ck, friqM In the first
group said' l; was thin and
suffering so me what from
asthma, but looking forward
eagerly to ,being retinited withlo
about 60 of his relatives n ow
living in exile here.
Twelve ofthe 60 prisoners
., ,
who were released last April
because of Wounds or sickness
formed .guard of honor in the
yellow, shirts that have become
the syrnkol of their resistance
to Mr,- Castro.
They stood in two ranks:
Juan Figueras on his crutches
and, artificial leg; Maj. Noelio
Montero wearing a jacket over
his "uniform"; another mem-
ber of the assault brigade with
an empty leeve and yet
a glove conceal-
nother.
his ,ificial hand.
'le
. But they quick broke ranks
when the blue-aid-whiteYan
American W o r lid Al r w a y s
DC-613 taxied to a halt shortly
after 6 p.m.
Immigration and health offi-
cons boarded the plane, aceom-
periled by port receptionist
Maria Luisa Bolivar, a petite
Puerto Rican brunette. As the
first prisoner, Arita/id? La,stra,
walked briskly down the steps,
the 12 swarmed over him 'and
those who followed.
Some Grin Broadly
Some of the prisoners grinned
broadly but otters marched
resolutely and unsmilingly to
the waiting buses. Some carried
their paltry personal' belong-
ings in woven cane bags. Others
were empty-handed. , '
One man, older than most
of the prisoners, carried only a
carved image of Mary and the
infant Jesus. Another carried a
box oil Havana cigars and
shouted repeatodly: "Viva Cuba
"Libre. Viva President Ken-
nedy." ,,
The -prisoners did not wear
the yellow sport shirts Mr. as-
tro intended as a badge?1X, dis-
honor,
The freed men said the yel-,
low shirts were taken away
from them, and, they say with
reason that Fidel Castro real-Ernesto
ized belatedly that the shirts
and the color yellow has be..
come a symbol of the hatred
the exiles bear is regime,
P
Get Ne C
They wore pi, n wZlte irts.
but only until,, the , orce
was able to ttitfit .thern
khaki shirts and. trousers; in
The survivorg of tile ill-fated
attack appearelii thin but in
reasonably good physical. con-
dition. Enrique Ruiz Williams,
one of the leaders of the in-
vasion, flew toHavana to ac-
company the men back to Flor-
ida on the first flight,
He said the-men told him
they began to get better food
in September as ransom nego-
tiations progre (-43 to the point
of eventual ve4.iinty.
"Before that:" said the husl,
41-year-old ex-prisoner, "v
ate only Chinese beans and ric
The beans, we called "patria
muerte beans" (this is a re:
erence to their "fatherland ,
death" , slogan). "They tas:
like the dirt on the ground. IN
almost never saw meat an
when we did it was rotten."
"No one In Cuba is eatio
well today, eXtelat a favcii-e
few," the reSistUrice leader sax
"so Ytni- call int ' tie what th
prisoners were
Some U za'ble
--
some of'boys ere s
thin as to *ii flizab'(
Dr. Carlos Fa wait
ill-6anwda i
for his two o
guel, apd his ne w, Efiricitti
was unable to bontreherid the
his 'loved ones were here a 1
safe. Tears streamed down
cheeks as he walked With thfr
to the bus, his apis aroul
their thin shoulders.
The longest watt of all wa
that of the leaders of the Cu
ban exile colony. The PP:.
arrivals last night Passed th
Word that Mr. Castro was ho d
ing the most important priscn
era r,the last plane.
Waiting for their sons at to
base 30 miles from Miami werc
. . Freyre, one of 1
chief negotiators for the Cul a
Families Committee wh.c
spearheaded the barter of rise
for medicines; Jose Miro Cu
dona, President of the Culla
Revolutionary Council, an
Antonio de Varon, Mr: Mi: o
chief lieutenant.
Leaders Betrning Last
Mr. Freyre waited until eLrl
today for the return of his 19
year-old son, Tieq. Mr. li II
sta d to greet his son, ,os
Mini Torra, and Mr. Varom t
welcome his Son, Carlos.
Also awaited were the tl re
military leaders DI the hal
force that was overwhelmec s
the place the Cubans call th
Playa Giron: Manuel Artirm
Eneido Oliva and Jose Sa
Roman. ,,-----,-
0
e.
FOIAb3b
Sanitized -Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001R000100390009-6
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001R000100390009-6
CPYRGHT
Four Cub ns, returned laq April' in a group of 60 sick and wounded
Prisoners c war, wait at Homestead Air Force Base near Miami yesterday
to geet th ir buddies. Left to right are Carlos Allen. Juan Figuares,
Jose Ignacio Smith azi.dt Luis Morse, jr.?AP ViTirephoto.
Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001R000100390009-6