Patricia Pedrianes Guzman told all her new found friends on Facebook how proud she was of her father, and she that she had recently told her own children about his participation in a war in the Congo.
“I sit here today and say I’m proud of my father,” she posted. “I remember watching the films with no sound as a little girl. Today I understand that our fathers have fought for what they believe in.”
Another follower of the Facebook page about the Cuban exile pilots who fought for the U.S. in a Congo War in the 1960s, said the children of these pilots “carry the torch.”
“An amazing afternoon with an amazing group of folks! It was great to put faces to names that I had heard so many times before. To the other “kids”: we carry the torch. Look forward to seeing you all again!” said Frank Gineba-Groero on the group page.
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Last month, relatives of the pilots saw a special report by NBC Miami about the pilots who got another shot at Fidel Castro, Che Guevera and Cuban troops who were in the Congo aiding the overthrow of the government.
The story generated amazing interest and resulted in the creation of the Facebook page where the veteran pilots, their sons, daughters, and grandkids began to swap stories on line, share photographs, and quickly agreed to meet to organize the preservation of their unique story.
“Who are the other guys in this picture with my dad,” asked a 40ish looking man. “That’s me,” came a response from halfway across the back room of the La Havana Vieja Restaurant just east of Coral Gables on Coral Way.
Some in the crowd of about 75 were laying out faded color and black-and-white photographs on the tables. Information was being exchanged. Young and old intensely listening to elderly men.
Most of the sons and daughters in the room had never heard many of the stories that were being told by the pilots and their kids were hearing much of it for the first time. All had always wondered about the pictures with their fathers in pilot’s jumpsuits posed in front of airplanes from another era.
On this August afternoon the talk was all about Cuba, The Bay of Pigs, The Congo, the CIA and pictures, 8mm film and Facebook.
After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, a number of the surviving pilots worked for the CIA flying in the Congo. They recruited equipped “Liberation Air Force.” It was all very secret and the exile Cubans were perfect for the job. At the time, most were not U.S. citizens, so the U.S. could deny they were involved in combating the attempted Communist takeover of the Congo, according to published reports.
A hundred or so pilots signed CIA contracts and went incognito into the heart of Africa.
Four of the pilots died during the Congo mission that ran from 1962 through 1967. Many family members never knew the exact details of their loved one’s death.
Arthur Pique was part of the NBC Miami story. His father perished in a crash. Pique was 5 years old when his father died. Other than a few pictures and stories from his grandfather, Pique was in the dark about his father’s final moments. But now, after almost half a century, he was surrounded by men who had served with his father and knew the Congo story.
Pique now knows that his father’s plane got separated from a formation he was flying in, encountered bad weather and went into a spin. Pique attended the meeting with his father’s sister both soaking in the stories and gathering an even greater appreciation of the scope of Arturo’s Pique’s service in the Congo.
This was not a crowd that ever spent much time on line, if ever. They were now into it, sitting all together in the Little Havana restaurant.
Post after post with pictures populate the Facebook page. Since the opening of the Congo site many of the veterans have created their own Facebook pages. In the process they are connecting with fellow pilots and their families across America and as far away as China and Argentina.
They were a tight knit group when they flew in the Congo; over the years they had come into contact with family gatherings and an occasional get-togethers. Now they are truly connected, thanks to 21st century technology and a willingness to share what was once secret so many years ago.
