Brothers to the Rescue Remembered 15 years later

 A Vigil for Truth, Justice and Remembrance



Fifteen years ago on February 24, 1996 at 3:21pm and at 3:28pm two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down with air to air missiles in international airspace extra-judicially executing Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr in an act of state terrorism.

Vigil was co-hosted by Students for a Free Tibet and the Free Cuba Foundation at the main fountain at Florida International University between 3:21pm and 3:28 pm the times that two Brothers to the Rescue planes were destroyed by air-to-air missiles fired by Cuban MiGs as they searched for rafters. Family members and friends of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. were in attendance. In addition Sylvia Iriondo one of the passengers of the third and surviving plane hunted that afternoon attended the vigil.



Jose Basulto of Brothers to the Rescue speaks about the downing of two of its planes on February 24, 1996.

Four youths, three of them Cuban-Americans and one Cuban residing in the United States lost their lives in that crime. Their names were Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales.

Brothers to the Rescue was founded in 1991 by Bay of Pigs veteran Jose Basulto, became a nonviolent civic activist following the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The organization's purpose was to rescue Cuban boat people found at sea.



Jose Basulto habla sobre Hermanos al Rescate y el derribo de dos de sus avionetas el 24 de febrero 1996.

Cuatro jóvenes, tres de ellos ciudadanos estadounidenses de origen cubano y un cubano residente en Estados Unidos, perdieron su vida en aquel crimen. Sus nombres eran Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa y Pablo Morales.

Hermanos al Rescate fue fundada en 1991 por el veterano de Bahía de Cochinos, José Basulto, devenido un luchador cívico no violento con apego a las doctrinas de Gandhi y Martin Luther King. El propósito de la organización era rescatar "balseros" cubanos hallados en alta mar.

Donato Poveda canta "Los Plantados" en LA VIGILIA POR LA VERDAD Y JUSTICIA

A Vigil for Truth and Justice, held at 6:00 pm at the Brothers to the Rescue Monument in front of Hialeah Gardens City Hall, 10001 NW 87 Avenue, Hialeah Gardens, FL 33016. The purpose of the event was to remember what happened fifteen years ago when Cuban MiGs shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes on a humanitarian mission over the Florida Straits. The Cuban artist Donato Poveda sang the above song in honor of Brothers to the Rescue and Cuba's prisoners of conscience.