"The prisoner transfer heading to Havana - which I experienced and remember it vividly - drove through small villages of Matanzas province. We drove through one of them very slowly, so the locals had the opportunity to shout at us. 'Mercenaries! Murderers! We will execute you all! We will kill you! I also remember that Carlos Alberto Badías, the famous face of Cuban television, was sitting right next to me. And outside was standing a young blonde girl with a child. She was shouting at him: Look! Who's there with them! That's Carlos Alberto… How handsome guy he is! Look, Carlos Alberto! What a pity he will be executed… ‘ Carlos Alberto replied: 'What would you like me to do? Shall I recite a poem for you?“
"American President Kennedy was at that point in the office for only three months and decided to cancel further airstrikes on Cuba. He really wasn't the one to sit in his place at the time. The following turn of events confirmed it. He tried to make it look like the United States was not involved in the whole operation whatsoever. However, it was hardly achievable. Where would a bunch of Cubans get such weapons, where would they get those planes?“
"We sailed nearly three days. In the early morning hours of April 17, we landed at the Cuban coast. According to a plan, shelling should have begun on April 15 with the aim of destroying Castro's despicable air force. It is worth mentioning that the first shipment of Russian MIG fighters was to arrive in Cuba in May, therefore it was reasonable to carry out the invasion in April. So, as previously planned, we tried to land on the beach in the Bay of Pigs. Our crew consisted of two infantry battalions - the second and fifth. The second infantry battalion was supposed to be advancing, and we should have occupied the positions they had conquered. Yet the ships, for instance...we had boats to arrive at the shore... but they did not even remotely meet the requirements for such an operation. As well as the ships. Those were merchant ships, not designed for such an operation at all. Furthermore, the mentioned boats we were supposed to sail on the shore were aluminium boats with portable motorcycles with an output of 40 horsepower.“
"One day, we managed to get white phosphorus. We spilled it on the floor of a store and set it on fire. It made a vast clutter. In this way, we burned down several buses as well. We spilled it on the seats and inflamed it. - 'Have you ever endangered any civilians?' - No, never. Look, to understand this issue, it must first be situated in its context. Life in Cuba back then was simply not safe, amongst citizens reigned fear. It started back in 1958 - although a lot of people talk about the great euphoria break out in 1959 - I saw it rather differently. You could smell the fear and anxiety everywhere you went. If you wanted to throw a party with a few guests, someone could, without blinking, start threatening you by saying he would set your home on fire and so on. Already in 1958, going to the cinema was considered an unsafe risk. Members of the Castro Movement on July 26 threatened to blow up the cinemas.“
"So I eventually applied to study civil engineering at the University of Havana. I can not forget the one morning in December 1957. I was sitting in a chemistry lecture when suddenly the teaching stopped. It was announced that the teaching was cancelled because Fidel Castro had just landed in the east of the Island. And that was the last time I have been to university. Because when it reopened the gates in 1959, I did not show up.“
Humberto López Saldaña was born on September 27, 1936 in Cárdenas, Matanzas Province. His father was a soldier in the Cuban army, headed by the then president, General Fulgencio Batista. He was several times posted away, so the whole Humbert family had to move. They lived in the village of San José de los Ramos, in today‘s popular tourist town Varadero and in Cárdenas. Firstly, young Humberto studied at the Catholic Lyceum, where he met several Spanish priests who had the experience of the Spanish Civil War. He then studied at a technical high school in Cárdenas and afterwards longed to continue studies in the United States. However, his father opposed his longing, and so Humberto ended up at the University of Havana, where he enrolled in the study of civil engineering. However, in 1957 when Fidel Castro landed in the east of Cuba, the university gates were closed. The lectures then began once again, but Humberto has never returned to the student desks. The victory of the revolutionaries did not please him. Therefore he decided to participate in sabotage against the new government. They carried out mainly small-scale incidents, for instance, painting anti-Castro inscriptions in the streets. Once, however, they used white phosphorus to attack a trade. He managed to leave Cuba on a tourist visa, and soon after arriving in Miami, he decided to join training camps set up in order to train the invading army. Within Brigade 2506 he served in the 5th Infantry Battalion. The military operation failed, and Humberto was imprisoned in the „El Príncipe“ prison until December 1962. That year, he returned to the United States as part of an agreement, including the release of prisoners for money, clothing, medicine, and the like. After returning to the United States, he served in the US Army. He is retired now, lives in Miami, and is the director of The Bay of Pigs Invasion Museum.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
