Friday, April 17, 2009

los hermanos Cubanos



This sign—put up at Lexington Ave. and 38th
Street by in-your-face Rudy Giuliani about 12
years ago—honors a group of Cuban exiles who
used to look for people trying to flee Cuba by raft.
Later, they flew into Cuban air space to drop leaflets
and two of their planes were shot down. Here's the
thing:  The permanent Cuban mission to the UN is
also at Lex and 38th.  They made a big stink at the
time, and I actually thought the sign was gone.
Guess NYC doesn't back down so easily.
 (Hey! You tawkin' to ME?")

5 comments:

  1. That is bold - almost as bold as those in-your-face primary colours. Great image, Alexa!

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  2. So, are they still in business? How much success had they had/do they have?

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  3. bibi -- They quit flying their search-and-rescue missions in 2003, due to a lack of funds and a shift in U.S. immigration policy (if you showed up from Cuba on a raft, you got sent back). But they flew thousands of missions, looking for rafters and helping them get here safely.

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  4. Cool! I've never noticed it before, nor did I know about the background behind it.

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Thanks, merci, grazie, danke, hvala, gracias, spasibo, shukran, dhanyavaad, salamat, arigato, and muito obrigado for your much-appreciated comments.