MiamiCubano
El Martillo (My Boxing Name)
I was out of the country on the day this anniversary occurred, and don't know if it was mentioned here or not (just too lazy to search now). But, this 13 Mar 2007 was the 50th anniversary of a date that is extremely close to my heart, and one which changed my family forever:
13 Mar 1957:
This was the day that revolutionaries/fidelistos stormed the Presidential Palace in Havana, and the overtaking of Radio Reloj. In so doing, this truly signaled what was to come. Interestingly, many of the "rebels" were severely misled in terms of what the murderer and tyrant Fidel (and Che) were really after and/or about. It wasn't clearly announced by the "revolution" that they were communists...that came after the fact; Fidel didn't reveal that until later. Rather, the revolution promised many "democracy." Many however, saw right through this and could see Fidel for what he really was.
IMy family's personal note on this?....In attempting their overthrow of the Batista government, the rebels actually stole a delivery vehicle that belonged to my family. This business was run by family for quite some time and was the equivalent of Fed Ex in Cuba. It was called Fast Delivery. It was run by my Grandfather and Grandmother. To this day, the Fast Delivery truck that was stolen can be found on "display" in the Museo, riddled with bullet holes. Here's a couple of pictures:
It was a bright red truck. This is a better picture...
We still have a few promotional trinkets from our company (that we were able to flee with...which wasn't much)....ashtrays, cards, etc., all very painful and bittersweet to look at. After this company was siezed by the "government" just after this, my family fled their Country. Here's a picture of an ashtray we were able to keep. It's presently behind glass, framed:
At any rate, this story (and its spins) has been told thousands of times by thousands of people. I won't go in too much detail here, but have provided a few links to read if you are so inclined. To an extent, this incident, and the truck belonging to my family, was portrayed in the Andy Garcia film, "The Lost City." However, in the film, I think they go with "Quick Delivery" instead of the proper and correct name of "Fast Delivery" on the truck they use.
The bottom line, this day marked a drastic turning point in the revolution, and was one of the pivotal steps taken in making our beloved Country what is today. Just thought I'd share my family's very personal take on the matter.
Here's some linkies:
NY Times from 14 Mar 1957
A pretty good article/paper on this day
The "revolution" still celebrates this day, and recently Raul Castro "decorated" survivors of this incident.
13 Mar 1957:
This was the day that revolutionaries/fidelistos stormed the Presidential Palace in Havana, and the overtaking of Radio Reloj. In so doing, this truly signaled what was to come. Interestingly, many of the "rebels" were severely misled in terms of what the murderer and tyrant Fidel (and Che) were really after and/or about. It wasn't clearly announced by the "revolution" that they were communists...that came after the fact; Fidel didn't reveal that until later. Rather, the revolution promised many "democracy." Many however, saw right through this and could see Fidel for what he really was.
IMy family's personal note on this?....In attempting their overthrow of the Batista government, the rebels actually stole a delivery vehicle that belonged to my family. This business was run by family for quite some time and was the equivalent of Fed Ex in Cuba. It was called Fast Delivery. It was run by my Grandfather and Grandmother. To this day, the Fast Delivery truck that was stolen can be found on "display" in the Museo, riddled with bullet holes. Here's a couple of pictures:
It was a bright red truck. This is a better picture...
We still have a few promotional trinkets from our company (that we were able to flee with...which wasn't much)....ashtrays, cards, etc., all very painful and bittersweet to look at. After this company was siezed by the "government" just after this, my family fled their Country. Here's a picture of an ashtray we were able to keep. It's presently behind glass, framed:
At any rate, this story (and its spins) has been told thousands of times by thousands of people. I won't go in too much detail here, but have provided a few links to read if you are so inclined. To an extent, this incident, and the truck belonging to my family, was portrayed in the Andy Garcia film, "The Lost City." However, in the film, I think they go with "Quick Delivery" instead of the proper and correct name of "Fast Delivery" on the truck they use.
The bottom line, this day marked a drastic turning point in the revolution, and was one of the pivotal steps taken in making our beloved Country what is today. Just thought I'd share my family's very personal take on the matter.
Here's some linkies:
NY Times from 14 Mar 1957
A pretty good article/paper on this day
The "revolution" still celebrates this day, and recently Raul Castro "decorated" survivors of this incident.
