HIJACKED TO CUBA!
HIJACKED TO CUBA!
Description
On January 9 1969, a newlywed Greek couple is flying from New York to the Bahamas when a young man at gunpoint diverts the plane to Cuba. The passengers end up in the Havana of the embargo, just a decade after the Cuban Revolution…
Tags
Credits
Interviewee
- Morela Koufakh-Audh
Interview by
- Eufrosynh Kyriazh
Podcast Producer
- Eufrosynh Kyriazh
Sound Designer
- Dhmhtrhs Palaiogiannhs
Sound Editor
- Giwrgos Gkanidhs
Video Director
- Isidwra Xarmpila
Cinematographer
- Xrhstos Andropoulos
Voiceover
- Monica McShane
When I got married in ‘68, my husband and I decided to go on a trip to America. So, we flew to New York on the 26th, where we met some friends. Before we went to the hotel, they said, ‘Why don’t we go to a museum?’ They left the car in a car park, which was open but guarded. In the afternoon, when we went to get the car, the car had been broken into. There were no suitcases, nothing, everything had gone. And, as I was really upset, my husband said, ‘We’re not going to stay here; we’ll go to Nassau, in the Bahamas. That will make you happy, and we’ll have a better time’.
We hadn’t planned on this. So, we headed off for Nassau, which is where our adventure started.
We had boarded the plane and sat down waiting for it to take off, when I saw a young man who seemed to be shoving one of the stewardesses towards the toilets. I said, ‘What’s going on here?’ They went into the toilets; the stewardess went in as well. We were sitting in first class, and we had a good view. ‘What’s going on? Both of them in the toilets? What’s happening here?’
And, shortly after, he came out with what seemed like a knife; he was holding something, a small knife, and he said, ‘Nobody move!’ He didn’t go into the cockpit, he stood outside. ‘This is a hijack! We are not going to land in Nassau; we are going to Cuba!’
He was a young man, twenty-two – twenty-five, a student. But he was a leftist, and he wanted to get to Cuba. ‘No water’, he shouted, ‘nothing. Everyone in your seats with belts fastened. And don’t even think about taking photos; you will face criminal charges in Cuba when we get there’. He was a small boy, blond, small, wearing a trench coat... You’d never imagine a boy like that would hijack a plane. He wanted to meet Castro.
We were all worried... Because the plane was full of Americans, and they we were all worried: ‘How will we get there? How will we get there?’ At some point, they announced that, ‘We will shortly be landing at the airport in Cuba, we ask you not to take photographs’.
In those days, I was very confident, nothing bothered me. I was always out at the front of whatever was happening. And I say, ‘I’m going to take pictures’. And my husband says, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ ‘No, but I’m going to take them’, I said, ‘what are they going to do to me?’ I had a small Kodak in my cabin bag. I took it out and started to take pictures. Pictures of the hijacker, the airport, everything.
We get to Cuba, land fine, and I hide the camera. And the truth is that they gave us a really nice reception. They put us in a large... Was it an airport? I don’t know. They offered us sandwiches and all that, and they said, ‘You’re not going to stay here’. And told us, ‘The plane will leave here now, to go back to America, for America to pay a fine for the plane landing here. And when America sends another plane, then you will leave. And now,’ they said, ‘we’re going to Havana’.
So, they put us on some buses. If I remember correctly, they had wooden seats inside. It was raining... It was raining and every now and then the poor driver had to stop – they had put us on two or three buses – to get newspapers to wipe the windows, and then we went on.
After several hours, we got to Havana, and they took us to a hotel, which they had opened just for us. The hotel was huge, in the good old days it must have been impressive. It smelled of mould; everything was shut up.
Of course, the Americans, although they were scared at first, as soon as the Cubans began handing out drinks, wine and cigars, they got over it. They began dancing and singing, drinking, and they didn’t want to, let’s say, leave Cuba! Most of the Americans got drunk. They had drinks for us and went from table to table leaving cigars, cigars, cigars. They brought in a band, which played their type of music. And the Americans danced, went crazy!
Of course, when we went to the toilets, there wasn’t any soap for us to wash our hands. There was no toilet paper. We had to make do with cut up pieces of paper. You see, the hotel had been closed. They opened it up that day for us.
They really looked after us, they made speeches, gave us newspapers and a lot of cigars. I think we stayed there for two full days; I don’t remember. The next day, they told us that the Americans were sending a plane and we were leaving for Miami.
When we got to Miami airport, they took everything off us, they didn’t let us take the cigars out. We were in line, and everyone started pointing at me. ‘What’s going on? What’s going on? What’s going on?’ I was taken to one side, and they said, ‘Could you please come with us? Look, the other Americans say that you took photos during the hijacking. Where is the camera?’ I said, ‘Here you go’. ‘And the film?’ I said, ‘Here you are, two films’.
I handed over the film, and they developed the photos. Later, they sent us a letter, ‘Thank you very much. You...’ I have the letter. I still have it. ‘You are welcome to America, whenever you want’. I have some great honours, that kind of thing, because they identified the hijacker from my photos.
The hijacker stayed in Cuba. They awarded him great honours, there where he went, because they made money from the hijacking. I’ve no idea how many thousands of dollars Eastern had to pay to send a new plane, and they got money from the landing taxes, something like that. It cost them a lot of money. In other words, the state got a lot of money.
The first hijacking of a plane happened in ‘68, there hadn’t been another one before that. What I remember from the letter from the FBI is, ‘Whenever you want to come back to America, we are here for you’, etc., etc., ‘We thank you for your cooperation’. And that’s how that adventure came to an end.