KEY WEST - Fidel Castro's troops killed more than 400 freedom fighters on August 30, 1961, said Arturo Cobo, coordinator general of the Cuban Transit Center on Stock Island.
Thirty years later; Generacion de Relevo, a coalition of exile groups went to Miami from Key West in a motorcade Saturday as a memorial. The motorcade was led by a white truck bearing the Cuban and American flags and playing Spanish marches.
Cobo described the group as "old people with the new generation with one goal - a free Cuba."
Along with the motorcade, members of Alpha 66 ran with a torch along sections of U.S. 1 and in historic places in Miami.
The torch was made specifically for this event in the imprisoned towns, in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, said Cobo.
The motorcade stopped at Florida International University in Miami to pick up more young people and ended at El Monumento al Preso, a monument to political prisoners in Miami.
A mass was said in churches in Cuba yesterday "for the freedom of my country and for the execution of the freedom fighters. We will never forget our martyrs," Cobo said.
One of the goals of Saturday's event was "to link together people in Cuba with people here," said John Suarez, 28, of the FREE CUBA Foundation at FIU. "We're trying to get all the generations that have been affected by this tragedy [Castro's dictatorship] together to achieve one goal- a free Cuba.
The FREE CUBA Foundation is a student group that works to free Cuba through non-violent means, Suarez said.
Cobo, a veteran of the Bay of Pigs, said he was especially encouraged by the cross generational nature of Saturday's event. "It is very comforting to see young people on a long weekend like this thinking of the freedom of our country," he said.
"There has been a dictator in our country for more than 40 years," Cobo added. "His regime won't accept change. It's immoral, unacceptable. This created corruption. Castro is one of the richest men in the world."
Suarez explained that the motorcade was leaving from Key West for two reasons. First, Jose Marti issued the call for Cuban Independence from the San Carlos Institute on Duval Street. Second, Suarez said most of the balseros (rafters) from Cuba are received and processed in Key West.
The Key West Citizen. Page 1A Sunday August 31, 1997