1958day.year
Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race.
Argentine Formula One legend Juan Manuel Fangio was kidnapped by Cuban rebels on the eve of the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix and released unharmed after the race.
On February 23, 1958, Juan Manuel Fangio, five-time Formula One world champion, was seized by members of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement in Havana. The rebels aimed to embarrass the Batista regime and draw international attention to their cause. Fangio was held in seclusion in a private home, treated well, and prohibited from speaking to the press. Despite the ordeal, he competed in the Cuban Grand Prix the next day. Following the race, the kidnappers released him unharmed, generating global headlines. The incident remains a dramatic example of political protest intersecting with high-profile sport. Fangio later remarked that his captors treated him with courtesy and that he bore no ill will. The kidnapping highlighted the turbulent context of pre-revolutionary Cuba.
1958
Formula One
champion
Juan Manuel Fangio
Cuban Revolution
Cuban Grand Prix