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1976 plane bombing downed hopes

Aboard were several young Guyanese on their way to study in Cuba. Their families and friends want justice.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published May 19, 2005

One mother lost her only son, a teen of promise on the way to medical school in another country. Another lost her daughter, who had come home to give birth and was returning to her husband.

A generation has passed since a bomb blew a Cuban airliner out of the sky, but in Guyana, it's as horrifyingly fresh as yesterday. Now comes Tuesday's arrest of one of the suspected masterminds, Luis Posada Carriles.

Of those who died in the 1976 bombing, several were Guyanese students on the way to study in Cuba. In the United States, the story of Posada's arrest is mostly political.

In the tiny nation of Guyana, it is deeply personal.

Guyana lost 11 people on the plane that day as it was flying from Barbados to Havana. Six were students.

To top students from Guyana - then and now - Cuba could be the path to an education they couldn't otherwise afford.

"Here it was, we were struggling to have our young people educated at a time when education was out of range for some poor families," said Robert Corbin, who was minister of youth and national service in Guyana at the time of the tragedy. It fell on him to talk with the parents.

In a nation that had no television, news of the disaster was broadcast by radio and word of mouth.

"There was grief and anger," recollected Corbin, now 57 and parliamentary leader of the People's National Congress Reform Party.

"There was, of course, disbelief when the news got here. And there were massive rallies in Guyana at the time expressing outrage at what had transpired. We had days of mourning and we had annual observations for several years on the day of the crash."

Dorothy Norton, 74, lost her only child.

Harold Eric Norton was 18 and had graduated from the country's prestigious high school, Queens College. He was on his way to study medicine. He and other top Guyanese students had received full scholarships.

"It was a sad day, because we were so happy the morning and seeing how happy he was with the other students at the airport," his mother said Wednesday by phone from Guyana.

"We couldn't afford to send him abroad to study medicine, so when he got the scholarship, we were delighted over that."

Sasenarine Persaud, a poet and novelist who now lives in Tampa, knew Harold Norton. They attended the same school.

"I went to work this morning and I heard that they had grabbed Posada and I thought, "Why are we going to let this guy go?' Regardless of the politics, if he is guilty, if he was in any way involved, there were innocent people who are not related either to Castro, Cuba or the United States and they deserve justice," Persaud said Wednesday.

"I knew Norton. Norton stands out because he was an only child and an only son. Imagine what that did to his parents."

Elaine Ogle, now 84, lost her daughter. After coming home to Guyana to give birth, 21-year-old Margaret Bradshaw was returning to her husband, a foreign service officer for the Guyanese government.

Her baby girl, born premature, was two months and five days old when Bradshaw left her in the care of her grandmother.

Ogle, reached by telephone in the Guyanese capital of Georgetown, said she had a premonition.

"After she left here, she went across to bid goodbye to my parents. From the time she left, I had a peculiar feeling and that sensation continued for the whole day. And at 3 o'clock, it lifted. That was the time the plane went down in Barbados," she said.

Ram Ramcharran, 36, who lives in Palm Harbor, was a boy in Guyana. He is one of several thousand Guyanese in the Tampa Bay area. Over the years, many have left the nation of about 800,000 seeking better lives.

"My dad was very upset. He believed in higher education and young people. They didn't start their lives yet, and their lives were taken away from them."

As an adult, he has reflected on the loss of lives. Guyanese simply craved a chance to get an education, he said. Ideology didn't matter.

Posada, who has fought against Cuba's Communist government, is accused of involvement in the Oct. 6, 1976, downing of the Cubana Airlines DC-8 that killed 73 people. Informants told U.S. officials he attended two planning meetings for the bombing; he was acquitted in two trials in Venezuela.

Venezuela is demanding his extradition. The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing his immigration status and a decision is expected today. The bomb placed in a bathroom on the plane blew up minutes after it left Barbados.

Kawal Totaram, a Guyanese who was studying in Barbados, saw the plane in trouble.

"It was banking along the coast," said Totaram, a lawyer in New York. "It was over the water in the horizon. We just saw like a puff of smoke. In fact, it didn't dawn on us that there was a crash."

The Rev. Charles Davidson, rector at St. Vincent's Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg, also was studying in Barbados.

"It was a loss of brilliant minds that would have contributed to the development of our country," he said. "And the mere fact that the government was beginning to give scholarships for locals to improve their lot, especially in the medical field, many of us were taken aback by the senseless act that took place."

Both mothers were pleased to hear of Posada's arrest.

"He must be an old soul living out his wicked ways at the moment, but it's a long time passed, you don't expect anything," Ogle said.

Norton said it is right to forgive, but added, "I don't think he should be living and enjoying life with his family after he caused so many families to suffer."

Times researcher Caryn Baird and Times Latin America correspondent David Adams contributed to this report. Information from the Kaieteur News in Guyana also was used.

[Last modified May 19, 2005, 01:03:02]