THE 'OTHER' TUGBOAT MASSACRE

THIS WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 25, 2006 IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Letter to the Editor

February 25, 2006; Page A11

The Bahamian government has caved in to Castro's bullying before. On May 11, 1980, four members of the Royal Bahamian Defense Force were assassinated by the Castro regime in Bahamian territorial waters. Two Cuban MIGs fired rockets and sank the Royal Defense patrol boat "Flamingo" as it towed a Cuban fishing boat seized for poaching stone crab and conch in Bahamian waters. They then proceeded to strafe the survivors in the water, killing four of the 19 crewmen -- Fenrick Sturrup, Austin Smith, David Tucker and Edward Williams. An unarmed U.S. Coast Guard helicopter called in for help had to terminate a low-level search for survivors after it was thrown into violent turbulence by a Cuban MIG.
Brig. Gen. Rafael del Pino, who defected from Cuba, has recounted how Fidel Castro gave the orders to teach those "lackeys of imperialism" a lesson. Cuba's vice president soon traveled to Nassau to buy a way out of the mess. As if the silence of the Bahamian government were not outrageous and ironic enough, the four victims are honored in a cenotaph behind the Supreme Court in Nassau.

Maria C. WerlauExecutive Director, Cuba Archive and President, Free Society ProjectSummit, N.J.