Yes, we’re pretty sure Madeleine Albright’s were brass, and they earned her the name “Madame Cojones.” It was a fitting nickname for Albright, who died last Wednesday at age 84.
Once upon a time, Albright was known worldwide for her no-nonsense diplomatic prowess on behalf of the United States during the Clinton administration. And she famously conducted her diplomacy armed with an extensive collection of beautiful pins, which sent subtle diplomatic messages during her meetings with world leaders.
But for many Miami Cuban exiles, Albright’s finest hour was while she served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and stood up to Fidel Castro’s communist government — and that’s where the cojones, Spanish-language slang for testicles, come in.
On Feb. 24, 1996, two Cuban fighter pilots shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft from Miami over international waters between Cuba and Florida. A third Cessna was allowed to escape.
The three Cessnas were part of a mission by Brothers to the Rescue, an organization that flew over the Florida Straits searching for Cuban refugees on boats and rafts and then alerting the U.S. Coast Guard.
Four Cuban Americans fliers died in the shootdown, sparking outrage in South Florida, as exiles demanded murder charges against the Cuban pilots.
When U.S. officials, and Albright, listened to the Cuban pilots’ radio transcripts, they heard them boasting about busting the cojones of their victims: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
Albright was livid, and in speaking at the U.N. immediately denounced the murders, saying her famous line, “This is not cojones, it is cowardice.”
That day, she wore a bluebird pin with its head pointing down, in mourning for the four Cuban-American fliers killed in the tragedy. It was a savvy show of solidarity with a community that hated Castro.
The remark was greeted with outrage by the predominantly male diplomats at the U.N., but Clinton praised Albright’s, well, cojones.
Speaking of Albright’s legacy on CNN, Clinton said Albright, a political refugee from Czechoslovakia, “always hated authoritarian governments.”
In Miami, no one was ever charged with the murder of the four Cuban-American fliers. But Albright’s act of defiance toward the Cuban government won her respect.
In 2018, more than 20 years after the incident, Albright visited Miami’s Freedom Tower for an event in honor of the Brothers to the Rescue victims — and a showing of her pins.
Albright was greeted by survivors from the shootdown and relatives of those who were killed. She was a fellow refugee, and they welcomed her as one of their own.
