Dec. 23, 1962 - The first Cuban war prisoners liberated from Fidel Castro’s jails in exchange for medicine and food reached U.S. soil today. Their plane landed in Florida at 6:06 p.m. New York time. The plane, carrying 107 of the 1,113 captives being freed, was greeted by leaders of the Cuban Families Committee and more than 200 newspaper and television reporters at Homestead Air Force Base, south of Miami. Large buses were present to take the prisoners to the processing center. A moment after the plane’s door swung open, the Government announced that other planes were on the way. Relatives who had gathered at Dinner Key auditorium in Miami cheered and wept as they watched the arrival on television.
