GOOD NEWS FROM CUBA: 21 AMERICANS FREED BY CASTRO
Miami, Florida (JFK+50) On April 22, 1963, twenty-one Americans were freed by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro. The group were flown to Homestead Air Force Base* on an airplane chartered by the American Red Cross.
The Americans, who had been sent to Cuban prisons on counter-revolutionary charges, included Rafael Del Pino, a Cuban native and naturalized American citizen, who was shot down near Havana in 1960.
Mrs. Pino "broke into tears when the last man left the plane at Homestead."
*Homestead AFB is located 25 miles South of Miami, Florida. It is a major training, deployment & humanitarian support hub for South America & the Caribbean.
SOURCE
"21 Americans Freed by Castro," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 22, 1963, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
