We hear that President Biden wants to change the tough approach that the Trump administration set against Cuba. He wants dialogue, whatever that means, with a dictatorship. How can you talk to a regime that locks up its own people?
From Miami to other cities, Cuban Americans will remember today another anniversary of a terrible massacre over the Florida Straits.
On this day in 1996, four young men on a humanitarian mission were killed by the Cuban Air Force.
Our friends at Capitol Hill Cubans recall what happened that awful day. This is from Senior U.S. District Judge Lawrence King in the civil lawsuit against the Castro regime and the Cuban Air Force (FAR):
“The government of Cuba, on February 24th 1996,in outrageous contempt for international law and basic human rights, murdered four human beings in international airspace over the Florida Straits. The victims were Brothers to the Rescue pilots, flying two civilian unarmed planes on a routine humanitarian mission, searching for rafters in the waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys.
As the civilian planes flew over international waters, a Russian built MiG 29 of the Cuban Air Force, without warning, reason, or provocation blasted the defenseless planes out of the sky with sophisticated air-to-air missiles in two separate attacks. The pilots and their aircraft disintegrated in the mid-air explosions following the impact of the missiles. The destruction was so complete that the four bodies were never recovered.””
What was “the crime”? They were flying over international waters looking for rafters and advising the US Coast Guard. It was a humanitarian act that posed no threat to the Cuban regime.
The four victims were: Armando Alejandre Jr. (45 years old), Carlos Alberto Costa (29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (24), and Pablo Morales (29).
Three of these young men were US citizens and the 4th was a legal resident.
On behalf of their families, I call on the Biden Administration to remember that nothing has changed in Cuba. To my knowledge, the regime has never apologized for this criminal act.
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