BROOKSVILLE — Carlos Leon learned to be a paratrooper by jumping off 50-gallon drums. The first time he jumped from an actual airplane, he was over Cuba.
He was 17, and he had forged his father’s signature to enlist, former Hernando County Commissioner Brian Hawkins said in introducing him.
“We are sitting with some pretty impressive men that are willing to sacrifice it all for the fight for freedom,” Hawkins said.
Leon, now 83, and Eduardo Zayas-Bazan, 90, came up from Miami for the Hernando County Commission’s Sept. 22 meeting. There, Commission Chairman Jerry Campbell read a proclamation honoring them on the 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Both men took part in the failed 1961 CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro. Both used the occasion to warn that the threat they fought then has not gone away.
“We need to be aware of the dangers of socialism and communism, because socialism will take you to communism, because that is exactly what happened in Cuba,” Zayas-Bazan told commissioners. “We were not prepared. We did not think it could happen in Cuba, but it happened, and it could happen in this country if we do not preserve our way of life and fight for freedom.”
Zayas-Bazan served on the brigade’s underwater demolition team. He paid a price for his fight against communism: Castro’s government took away his law degree, Hawkins said. Hawkins added that Zayas-Bazan, who turns 91 later this year, still swims 55 minutes a day.
“It’s Cuban history, it’s Florida history and it’s American history, what these people did and what they did as young as 16 years old,” Hawkins said.
The men were among Cuban exiles who had fled the island. They volunteered or were recruited by the CIA to take back their homeland, Hawkins said.
“They understood what it meant to lose their freedom and rather than simply accept it, they made the decision to fight for it,” he said.
In their words
“We lost our war at that time, but we have won because we are living in a country that loves freedom, preserves freedom, and here today we witness how democracy works, which is so important,” Zayas-Bazan said. “This is what we’re trying to do with our new museum in Miami.”
The museum is meant to teach young people that history and how to take part in the democratic process, he said.
Part of the problem when Castro came to power, he said, was that Cubans did not appreciate the freedom they had. He does not want to see that repeated in the United States.
“We will never forget Hernando County because it recognized us,” he said.
Leon was one of the youngest members of the brigade to see combat.
“Freedom is everything. But you have to constantly be aware and defend it, because being everything it’s also easy to lose it. We are examples of that happening,” he said. “I just wish I had better English to express how special this is for us.”
The invasion
On April 17, 1961, about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s southern coast, hoping to end Castro’s communist rule. The CIA-organized force, Brigade 2506, was the armed wing of the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front. It had trained in Guatemala and sailed from Nicaragua.
Without the air support they had been promised, the invaders were overwhelmed by Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and surrendered April 20.
According to the proclamation, 1,204 brigade members were captured and imprisoned, many in harsh and inhumane conditions. More than 100 died in combat, by execution, while trying to escape Cuba or in prison without adequate medical care. The 1,113 who were released and returned to the United States in December 1962, in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine, went on to make lasting contributions to their communities and the nation.
Threats today
State Rep. Jeff Holcomb, R-Spring Hill, a Navy veteran like Hawkins, said America still faces threats to its freedom. He traced the nation’s wars through the war on terror and the 9/11 attacks. He said children must be taught that history or they will be prone to repeat it.
“If they don’t understand the Islamic threats that face our country and our community, it’s going to face us again,” Holcomb said.
Commissioners echoed the veterans’ warnings.
Commissioner John Mitten said he had visited the Freedom Tower in Miami. He said the presentation reminded him of Ronald Reagan’s 1964 “A Time for Choosing” speech. In it, Reagan recalled offering sympathy to a Cuban refugee, only to have the man point out that he at least had somewhere to escape to. If America failed, there would be nowhere left to go.
Mitten thanked the veterans for their “vigorous and vicious opposition to communism and socialism.”
“It is trying to make a comeback,” he said. “It is trying to convince people in America that it is an answer, and we know it’s not the answer. It’s been demonstrated time and time again.”
Commissioner Steve Champion said he has lived in Miami and Fort Lauderdale and knows the influence of the Cuban community there.
“You guys are very inspiring, and hopefully you’re talking with the youth down there, especially in Palm Beach County and Broward County, where they’re still all about this socialism and garbage that’s going on, and communism, and voting dark blue, etc.,” he said.
Young people there need to learn what the veterans went through, he added.
“Socialism sounds good on paper, until you run out of everybody’s money,” Champion said. He warned that people will stop working and stop building businesses if the government simply hands things out.
Hawkins had the final word.
“History should never measure courage solely by the outcome of a battle,” he said. “These men were willing to put their lives on the line for something bigger than themselves.”