FAMILIES OF BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE WANT JUSTICE

(Credit: This article appeared in the SunSentinal: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-forum26shootdownpnfeb26,0,4053393.story)

By Mario T. de la Peña
February 26, 2009
Thirteen years ago this week, on Feb. 24, 1996, two small, unarmed, civilian Cessna planes, belonging to the organization Brothers to the Rescue were blown out of the sky by missiles launched by a Cuban Mig 29 over international waters. Four men were murdered during this barbaric act. Pilots Mario M. de la Peña and Carlos A. Costa, both U. S. citizens, and spotters Armando Alejandre, Jr., a U.S. citizen and ex-marine, and Pablo Morales, a legal resident of the United States. They were in a humanitarian mission searching for refugees in the Florida Straits.

The aircraft left Opa-Locka airport for a routine search and rescue mission to aid Cuban rafters fleeing Cuba in search of freedom. The pilots notified Havana of their flight plans and in compliance with civil international aviation procedures radioed Havana controllers to identify themselves, their position and altitude. But the Cuban regime, without warning, shot down their airplanes. The crime had been coordinated with Cuban spies in the United States who had infiltrated their organization. The terrorist attack was witnessed by passengers in the Majesty of the Seas ship and by the captain of another vessel.

Since then, their families have sought justice. On Aug. 21, 2003, the two MIG 29's pilots and their immediate commander, Gen. Ruben Martinez Puente, were indicted in U. S. Federal Court. But the U. S. government failed to indict the Cuban officials who planned and gave the orders to kill. The Clinton and Bush administrations evaded the issue of indicting Fidel Castro and Raul Castro, who at the time served as Minister of the Cuban Armed Forces. After Washington said Havana was responsible for the murders, the Castro brothers awarded medals to the assassins; and while the U. S. government overthrew a tyrant, Saddam Hussein, it has yet to indict Raul and Fidel Castro and their chain of command for this heinous terrorist act just a few miles south of our borders.I pray that our new president, Barack Obama, will make the protection of the lives of U.S. citizens his first priority; that he will hear our plea, and that one day, also in this case, justice will prevail.

Mario T. de la Peña is the father of one of the pilots, Mario M. de la Peña.