The Shooting at the Church (Cuba 1961)
(Margy's book the shooting at the Church)
(interviewer - Now lets talk about the Invasion...it came as a Surprise to Everyone in America)
(manny adds -- NOT in Miami !! Everyone KNEW including Castro !!)
No, no, no...not a secret...there was some place that i read it was a "secret" that is was NOT a secret.
In Cuba we knew because some of our friends who have left Cuba for Miami, with the idea of coming Back !!
Castro Knew !!, but they didn't know the exact Date. And in a few days Before the invasion was the Air Raids.
(manny adds -- our house was only a few blocks from a small military airfield...we heard the bombs from our house)
Airplanes came by and "destroyed the whole Castro airforce" which was NOT true.
So there there was that. I didn't know the Date. I was in the convent, but i remember hearing in the convent, that there was a rumor that there was going to be an Invasion. Exactly when, poeple didn't know.
I think it (the training of Cuban exiles) was in Guatemala. You have to remember that one of the hings that happened is, in the 1960 election in 1959, Nixon KNEW that Eisenhower was planning that (invasion).
Nixon could NOT say anything (in his presidential debates).
And Kennedy, looked like the Big Macho Man who looked like someone that was going to do something about Cuba, while Nixon looked like a dumb, poor Nixon.
We Cubans had a hard time with JFK. Because he made the decision NOT to give us (the invasion) Full Air Support, it was like D-Day, like the Wrong Beach, the Wrong....I mean a lot of the military.....and I don't trust a lot of the military invasions, lets put it that way.
(to be continued....)
(Pope's emissary coming to Cuba)
Yes, it was. The order that i was given was, because they knew i was going to go, i didn't remember, it was close tour house, maybe 10 minutes to our house, i don't remember how we were able to go in, if there were assigned seats of what.
Anyway, they knew i was gong to to so, so what i woad told was. "This is what we want you to do.
ONE is , there's going to be a lot of people there, but we want you to, as soon as he finishes Mass, but before he leaves, we want YOU to scream ...."Cuba Si, Russo No !! "
And hopefully, there would be other people,and hopefully they will do the it.
when you leave the Church, there's probably going to be some Castro people, because....they used to do this a lot, every time we had a big thing like that, when you came out of something there would be agitators pro-Castro.
And they'd say, "There probably trying to get you guys into a Verbal fight" , and so that there is some hopefully. what they will try to do, hopefully to get some of you Mad and Hit them.
And the police will intervene. and they would intervene by shooting, because that has happened before.
And they said , "Don't get into a Fight. So when they start provoking you, start to singing the National Anthem.
And if they start shooting, stand up and Sing the National Anthem, because even if they kill some of us, it will still happen when the journalist (from around the world) are still there.
We were NOT supposed to be violent. Now, unlike the Civil Rights (in the USA later in the 1960's) we were NOT trained on peace for anything. Because we were planning an Invasion.
So we were doing a lot, i was NOT involved, but there was a lot of burning govt buildings, and things like that . But the belief that it's okay to die, that few people die, yes.
(4 sisters...Ely, Margy, Lala and Teresa 1950's Havana across from Villanova University)
(the shooting at the Church)
Well, YES, i thought that i might get killed. What i didn't now that i was going to Run !!
I got up that morning,and i was already shaking. Now i went with a Sister, my parents went in their car,. Remember , my mother was Pregnant, and i went with a sister, an older sister, sister (Lala ?).
And, but she didn't know what that it was going to do this, neither did my Mother.
So i ended up standing by my mother. So, she knew, she had no question that I'm the one that Started it !! IT just took ONE shout, and the whole church....
Yeah, I mean, it was just one of those times...so I was Pumped Up !! My father got worried, because my mother was pregnant. So he took her and left from the Side Door.
We got out,and i could see some of our men,verbally arguing with Castor people. I heard one of the saying, "Why did you say "Cuba Si, USA No ?" And i said, "Because i don't care about
the United States. I care about Russians. The Communist !!"
And then someone hit one of our men, and i don't remember, i remember he hit Back, then it started pushing, and then suddenly the Castor people disappeared, and the shooting started.
And what i was expecting was, really they would shooting to the air, or the gun. I did NOT expect machine guns !!
And what, someone told my parents, my parents were going in the car, and they hear the machine guns. and they got home, and this friend of the family tot home ad he said, "I saw the machine gun, there were TWO machine guns near the building, next to the Church, shooting at them."
And that's when my Mom said was all she was of ME was bloody.
Well, I was NOT all bloody. Me and my sister were, well we did try several times to sing the National Anthem. We stood up and sang, and the shooting started, and we just went down , sand after a second try, we just Ran back in the Church.
And i was NOT a good experience because i could see people piling g on top of me, and i could see people piling up, and it was like.
Now I don't know if there were people NOT expecting this, but my picture was, by that time, those that were left, were those of us who knew. more or less, that was going to happen. But i need to ask....i never talked to my sister about it.
No, noone was killed. Well, that's the problem. All you get was the newspaper. All we got was the Cuban newspaper. What we heard, was that some people were hurt.
And the next day, the newspaper said the were were just shooting into the air, and there were NOT trying to kill people.
But i went to the Church to see the Bullet holes, and there were four, five or six Holes. That's NOT shooting into the air !!
We stayed there (church), my sister took my hand, and waited for ti to stop. IT stopped right away, after we were all gone ti stopped.
You see, for the Communist it was hard, they did not want so many witnesses, okay, all they wanted was for it to end. So, we left by side door, find a care and got home.
And when i got home, my Father was talking to his friend, this man who have seen the machine gun, and he went into mother's room, and he , "The girls are here, they are okay."
And he said, "Don't go into mother's room." You know, again, this is when i realized that something was going on, I didn't realized how bad it was.
And then, maybe a day after that, i went into the room, and she was okay. I talked to her, and she said. "Why don't you stay here until the baby is born ?" And that was the last time we talked about it.
Well, i already had my ticket and everything. My Dad did NOT think she would lose the baby.
My Mom, apparently told him that she couldn't feel the baby. And then i left Cuba and a few weeks after that, the baby was born, and he was a born stillbirth.
And the doctor said that the had been probably dead for a few weeks or something like that .
Manny and Steve Kitchens and sons Brandon and Austin visit to Gaston Sugar Mill Dolores in 2010
Brandon, Manny and Austin Suarez-Wentz visiting the Suarez-Gaston house in Havana....across the street from Villanova University de Havana (2010)...there are 5 families !! living in that house NOW !!
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