Uploaded June 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
'Handcuff me outside so the child won't see it.' That's what my father told the two FCC agents standing in the living room of our house as they arrested my Father.
This happened here at home one day in 1982. My mother was standing between the office and the dining room, while I watched what was unfolding from the hallway. And then they took him away.
Eloy Escagedo Lliraldi was operating a clandestine, anti-Castro radio station called "Radio Antorcha Martiana." This was years before Radio Martí, the broadcast station that was later sponsored by the United States.
The programming from my Dad's Station included selections of patriotic music and messages for the Cuban people.
My father operated it out of a small room that was packed to the brim with equipment. Outside in the front yard, attached to the porch, we had a huge antenna that could be seen from afar.
It was the same antenna that was used to raise the Cuban flag when the Pope visited Miami in 1987.
'Handcuff me outside so the child won't see it.' That's what my father told the two FCC agents standing in the living room of our house as they arrested my Father.
This happened here at home one day in 1982. My mother was standing between the office and the dining room, while I watched what was unfolding from the hallway. And then they took him away.
Eloy Escagedo Lliraldi was operating a clandestine, anti-Castro radio station called "Radio Antorcha Martiana." This was years before Radio Martí, the broadcast station that was later sponsored by the United States.
The programming from my Dad's Station included selections of patriotic music and messages for the Cuban people.
My father operated it out of a small room that was packed to the brim with equipment. Outside in the front yard, attached to the porch, we had a huge antenna that could be seen from afar.
It was the same antenna that was used to raise the Cuban flag when the Pope visited Miami in 1987.
