Helen’s great-aunt Ellie talked about her involvement in the kidnapping of F1 legend, Juan Miguel Fangio.
Ellie talked about her life during Batista’s dictatorship during the 1950s, her own involvement during the Revolution and how she sought out a cause that she hoped would change not only her future, but the future of Cuba.
Fangio’s kidnapping on 23rd February 1958 was to cause embarrassment to Batista’s regime, but inadvertently may have saved his life.
Cuban driver Armando Garcia Cifuentes lost control of his car on an oil-slicked part of the course and ploughed into a crowd of onlookers, killing and injuring several people.
Ellie’s story gave insight into her life under Castro’s rule, and how she eventually fled Cuba in fear for her life, never to return to her home country.
