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Stories & Blog
Congo Reunion
NEWS | Nov. 16, 2014
Rescue reunion: Cuban-American CIA team meets Congo hostages in Kendall
Miami Herald story by Glenn Garvin
As how-do-you-dos go, it was strange, but cheery and certainly effective: “Hi, I’m one of the hostages, you saved my life,” said Marilyn Wendler, extending an outstretched hand. “Which one were you?”
“I was the one driving the pickup truck and shooting out the window,” replied Angel Benitez, not even slightly nonplussed. “Nice to meet you!”
So it went Sunday as Cuban-Americans who fought in Africa 50 years ago under CIA command held a reunion with hostages they rescued from Congolese guerrillas.
NEWS | Nov. 15, 2014
Anniversary Recalls Congo Rescue by Miami Cubans
Miami Herald story by Glenn Garvin
Fifty years later, the Congo jungle now receding into the mists of memory as he sits in a Miami living room, Juan Tamayo is looking forward to meeting the little blond girl who sat so silent and still in his lap while he blazed away belt after belt of ammo with his .30-caliber machine gun.
“Does she hear OK?” he wonders softly. “I always worried that her hearing was damaged.”
NEWS | Oct. 31, 2011
Not since the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 China had so many missionaries been killed in a single year as in the Simba Rebellion of 1964 and 1965 in Africa. The terror unleashed on innocent Congolese Christians and western missionaries left thousands dead and even more to suffer from physical and emotional scars for the rest of their lives.
The Cuban soldiers arrive to rescue the hostage missionaries. Then-UFM field leader Al Larson is shown standing in center.
Nineteen men, women and children representing UFM (now Crossworld) lost their lives in the Congo. As the country continued to struggle for its independence from Belgium, rebellions surfaced everywhere, including the city of Stanleyville (now Kisangani). There, missionaries from various organizations were caught between warring factions trying to bring reformation to the country. When the “Simbas” reached KM 8, outside Stanleyville, the missionaries were defenseless hostages against the wrath of anti-foreign sentiment.
Although 19 of our finest lost their lives, many were rescued in Stanleyville, including UFM team leader Al Larson. (He later served as Crossworld’s president for 25 years.) The rescuing team was a CIA-trained unit of Cubans who had escaped Castro’s rule. They were credited with the rescue in November 1964, but only in late September, 2011, in Miami, Florida were they thanked – 47 years later.
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