A Florida-based group of Cuban exiles that rescued people fleeing the repressive rule of Fidel Castro’s communist regime in the 1990s sowed seeds that led to the federal indictment of his brother, Raúl, more than three decades later.
Brothers to the Rescue, an organization founded by Cuban-American dissident José Basulto, organized search-and-rescue flights looking for makeshift rafts between Florida and Cuba belonging to those attempting to escape the island, a daring endeavor that helped thousands make it to the US.
In February 1996, two of the group’s civilian aircraft were shot down by a Cuban fighter jet over international waters shortly after departing an airport near Miami, killing four members including three US citizens and a green card holder.
A third aircraft, piloted by Basulto, was able to escape the assault. He recalled in a recent interview that he saw smoke to his right after the Cuban fighter jets attacked.
“I believed wholeheartedly that we were going to be next and fortunately it didn’t happen,” he said.
At the time, the Cuban government claimed the strikes were in response to the planes violating its airspace, while attempting to carry out a sabotage operation.
However, the Organization of American States (OAS) — a diplomatic group representing most countries across the Americas — determined the planes were outside Cuba’s airspace and were shot down with no warning or justifiable purpose, according to CBS.
Cuban pilots were heard openly celebrating the cowardly attack over the radio, according to a report by OAS, making remarks such as “We blew his balls off!” and “He won’t give us any more f–king trouble.”
President Bill Clinton condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms.”
Fidel Castro himself claimed responsibility for the incident, telling CBS at the time he had issued “general orders” to keep unauthorized aircraft from encroaching on Cuban airspace.
The US convicted one person — accused of spying on the humanitarian group for the communist regime — of conspiracy to murder over the deaths. He was sentenced to life, but sent back to Cuba in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap.
On Wednesday, the US indicted the 94-year-old Raúl Castro — who led the island nation’s military at the time the planes were shot down and assumed control of the island nation in 2008 as his brother’s health declined — for murder and conspiring to kill US nationals.
The move comes as part of President Trump’s increasing pressure campaign against the communist-led country.
“If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters in Miami.
Five other defendants named in the federal indictment were all Cuban fighter pilots.
“For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” said Blanche.
“My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, who succeeded Raúl Castro, dismissed the Justice Department’s indictment as “a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding the fabricated dossier they use to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”
He claimed the country acted in “legitimate self-defense” in shooting down the aircraft, calling the planes’ occupants “notorious terrorists.”
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