HERIBERTO SEDENO RECALLS THE OCTOBER MISSILE CRISIS

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HERIBERTO SEDENO RECALLS THE OCTOBER MISSILE
CRISIS
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Heriberto Sedeno was 16 years old when he left
Havana, Cuba on October 2nd. 1962. During the
months preceding his departure there were rumors
spreading all over Cuba that something was going
on. It was evident that tighter security was
placed on the civilian population. Military and
paramilitary personnel known as milicianos made
their presence felt in the streets of every town
in Cuba. The most shocking site was that of
eastern European looking young tourists
visiting the main sites around Havana such as
Parque Central and Old Havana taking pictures
wearing dull summer clothing. They would not buy
anything on the few shops still open nor mingle
with the people.
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They made their rounds in groups of 5 to 10 with
one of them acting as guide.Months later Mr.
Sedeno found out that these tourists were Russian
soldiers sent to Cuba to supervise the
construction and later staff the ICBM missile
bases being placed strategically in the
countryside. Mr. Sedeno recalls reading in
Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban
Communist Party, that the Soviet Union had sent
to Cuba a contingent of agricultural and factory
technicians to help the Cuban people. The
government had successfully used the propaganda
at their means to hide the true intentions of
these visitors.
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On October 22nd, , 1962, almost 3 weeks after Mr.
Heriberto Sedenos arrival to Camp Matecumbe he
felt ill and checked into the Camps infirmary
with a high fever and a very serious skin rash.
His neck glands were swollen and achy. The nurse
checked him and advised him to sleep that night
in one of the cots available until the next day
he would be checked by the doctor. That night,
when President John F. Kennedy was addressing the
American people and the world informing them that
the Soviet Union had placed missiles in Cuba
ready to be launched to U.S.targets. Mr. Sedeno
was in a delirium with high fever and seriously
dehydrated.
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Indeed in a global and personal scope those 13
days in October 1962 were dangerous.The
convalescent days of Mr. Sedenos illness and the
development of the Missile Crisis was marked by a
lot of fear. Camp Matecumbe was at the southwest
edge of Miami very close to the Everglades
National Park and Homestead Air Force Base.
Further down, the Florida Keys are connected to
the mainland by a two way road. During the day
and night the children in the Camp were able to
hear the constant military air traffic and the
rumbling of trucks all heading south. The talk
amongst the children and the Camps personnel was
very somber. They all thought that Cuba was on
the verge of a U.S.
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invasion with atomic weapons and that the lives
of their family members still in Cuba were in
grave danger.Of course, foremost in their minds
was that the Russians would attack the Miami area
first. For 13 days extreme tension and fear
enveloped the world. It was as if life had stood
still during those days. Mr. Sedeno remembers
living the stillness of the moment lying on his
cot at Camp Matecumbes infirmary. The world
survived the worst crisis it had ever
experienced, and in a personal Mr. Sedeno lived
through a very serious infection.