10 years ago FCF screened Andy Garcia's "The Lost City" at FIU: Join our 2021 virtual screeing

 Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a Cuban family is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive authoritarian regime of Batista to the oppressive Marxist regime of Fidel Castro.

Ten years ago, Magnolia pictures gave approval for the Free Cuba Foundation to show "The Lost City," Andy Garcia's 2005 exploration of Cuba in the turbulent 1950s. 

 

The screening took place on July 6, 2011 at 8:00pm at Florida International University at Graham Center 283A at what was then called the University Park campus . We co-hosted the event with FIU Students for a Free Tibet, and we thank them for their solidarity.

 

The film stars Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Millie Perkins and Ines Sastre.  Millie Perkins starred as Anne Frank in the original film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959.

 

Helen Castro and Mitsu Vastey at 2011 screening

 

Now a decade later the movie is available online, and in this time of COVID-19 we are inviting FCF members past, and present and all interested parties to join us in a virtual viewing of this important film directed by Andy Garcia on March 29 at 8pm.

 

Our community is experiencing the new film Plantados, on the plight of Cuban political prisoners in the first years of the Communist Revolution, and The Lost City is the film that provides the back story to the Cuba that existed before 1959, and how Castro and his revolutionaries destroyed it. 

Below is the The Lost City trailer.

Interview with Andy Garcia about The Lost City at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival below:




Additional information will be posted shortly.

Silent Vigils and Masses for Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Brothers to the Rescue Martyrs

On February 20, 2020 at 7:00pm at the Cuban Embassy protesters gathered for a silent vigil in remembrance of four Brothers to the Rescue martyrs, Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, killed on February 24, 1996 and Orlando Zapata Tamayo who was martyred on February 23, 2010.

Mass and Silent Vigils for Justice: Remembering and demanding justice for five Cubans murdered by Castro https://t.co/D4xDXir8tq 1/6 pic.twitter.com/5WgVj80j6B

— Free Cuba Foundation (@freecubafndtn) February 22, 2020

Father Fernando E. Hería at La Ermita de la Caridad during the 3:00pm homily today reflected on the nonviolent doctrine of the Church and the martyrdom of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, ten years ago on February 23, 2010 at the same time.

24th observance of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down marked by silent vigils at Miami-Opa Locka airport in the morning with Jose Basulto, Silvia Oriondo, Florida International University in the afternoon, and Mass at St. Agatha Church. Prayers, remembrance, and continuing demand for justice.

On February 24, 2020 at 3:15pm friends and families of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales gathered at Florida International University and joined hands in a silent vigil from 3:21pm to 3:27pm, the time the Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down killing the four men.

 Later that evening at St. Agatha Catholic Church a Mass was celebrated by friends and families for Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.

 Thank you all for joining in these acts of remembrance and continuing the call for justice.

Silent vigil for justice today at FIU for Brothers to the Rescue martyrs

Carlos, Pablo, Mario, and Armando remembered today.

Silent vigil at Florida International University on February 24, 2017

Vigil was hosted by the Free Cuba Foundation today at the main fountain at Florida International University (FIU) between 3:21pm and 3:27pm the times that two Brothers to the Rescue planes were destroyed by air-to-air missiles fired by Cuban MiGs as three small civilian planes flew through international airspace searching for rafters.  Three U.S. citizens and a resident were killed. The third plane made it back and bore witness for those who did not return.

Family members and friends of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. where in attendance today along with members of the university community. This event is a tradition that started at FIU one week after the February 24,1996 shoot down.

The purpose of the vigil is to continue the demand for justice while remembering and sharing the facts with new generations of students at Florida International University. A fact sheet was distributed after the vigil to passersby to explain the purpose behind the demonstration.

FIU students organized protest against Hillary Clinton and in support of keeping sanctions on Castro regime

Cubans have a right to their rights!

FIU students organized protest against Hillary Clinton on July 31, 2015

 On Friday, August 31, 2015 facing the Wertheim Performing Arts Center (WPAC) at Florida International University students, alumni and members of the community protested Candidate Hillary Clinton's and the Obama Administration's Cuba policy with a nonviolent protest. Efforts were made by the University authorities to corral us in a remote location in order that we not be seen or heard, but they failed.


Young voices spoke out for a human rights first policy in Cuba and the maintenance of sanctions. It will be interesting to see what the electoral results will be for Hillary Clinton, and other candidates who call for engaging in commerce with the dictatorship in Cuba.

Meanwhile will have to see how the entertainer Pitbull who has engaged in doublespeak on when and how he will play in Cuba while apparently calling for the lifting of the embargo on a bottle of vodka, he is trying to market, will be received.

Inside of Cuba, the musical group Aldeanos produced a track blasting Saavedra of Vigilia Mambisa who held a protest in which he "symbolically" destroyed Pitbull CDs in Little Havana and posted it on youtube it has over 113,000 hits as of today.

This just serves to underscore as we have said all along that attacking artists or destroying music symbolically or otherwise is in contradiction with the full embrace of human rights. However, specifically criticizing what we are in disagreement with using nonviolent means (such as a boycott) is a morally consistent exercise.

Silent Vigil for Justice for Shootdown Victims

For Justice

Family members, Students and University Community

To Hold Silent Vigil for Shootdown Victims 

Non-Violent protest at FIU on eve of President Obama’s town hall meeting  

Family members, students and members of the university community will be holding a silent vigil for justice for the four victims of the February 24, 1996 shoot down. The vigil will take place at the main fountain at Florida International University located between the Charles E. Perry Bldg. (Primera Casa) and the Green Library on February 24, Tuesday from 3:21pm to 3:27pm the times both planes were shot down. Family members and students will be there beginning at 3:00pm.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015 will mark 19 years since Fidel and Raul Castro ordered Cuban MiGs to hunt and shoot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes that at the time were in international airspace killing Armando Alejandre Jr. (45 years old), Carlos Alberto Costa (29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (24), and Pablo Morales (29). A thorough international investigation carried out by the Inter-American Commission on the merits made public in 1999 concluded: that the Castro regime was legally responsible for their murders and for the lack of justice.

Successful civil lawsuits have been brought against the Castro regime by the families of the victims, but criminal prosecutions of those responsible, save one case, have not been carried out. On December 12, 2001 Gerardo Hernandez, a Cuban spy ,was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to commit murder for his role in providing information that led to the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama on December 17, 2014 commuted his life sentence and returned Mr. Hernandez to Cuba. Families have expressed feeling misled by the United States government.

The vigil has been carried out annually since 1996 by members of the Free Cuba Foundation, a student movement founded at FIU in 1993. http://freecubafoundation.blogspot.com/

WHO:      Family members of four men killed on February 24, 1996 
                FIU students
                Members of the University Community

WHERE: Main Fountain at Florida International University
               Located between the Green Library and Charles E. Perry bldg
              11200 Southwest 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199

WHAT:   Silent vigil for justice for the victims of the February 24, 1996 shoot down

WHEN:  Tuesday, February 24 gathering at 3pm event starts at 3:21pm sharp

Take six minutes to denounce state terrorism on February 24th

Take part in Cuba's national reconciliation

On September 29, 1999 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights released a report on the merits concerning the Brothers  to the Rescue shoot down. The report begins as follows:  

"On 25 February 1996, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the Inter-American Commission”) received several complaints brought against the Republic of Cuba (hereinafter “the State,” “the Cuban State,” or “Cuba”) according to which a MiG-29 military aircraft belonging to the Cuban Air Force (FAC) downed two unarmed civilian light airplanes belonging to the organization “Brothers to the Rescue.”^[1] According to a report issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the incidents occurred on 24 February 1996 at 3:21 p.m. and 3:27 p.m., respectively, in international airspace. The air-to-air missiles fired by the MiG-29 destroyed the civilian light aircraft, immediately killing Armando Alejandre Jr. (45 years old), Carlos Alberto Costa (29), Mario Manuel de la Peña (24), and Pablo Morales (29). The complaint concludes with the Commission being requested to begin proceedings in accordance with Articles 32 et seq. of its Regulations and to declare Cuba responsible for failing to comply with its international obligations contained in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (hereinafter “the Declaration” or “the American Declaration”) for violating the right to life and the right to a fair trial as set forth in Articles I and XVIII of said international instrument."

International human rights bodies and courts have concluded that the attack was a premeditated extrajudicial execution that claimed four lives. Until December 15, 2014 when President Barack Obama commuted his sentence and returned him to Cuba two days later, Gerardo Hernandez, was the only person who had been charged, convicted in a court of law, and was serving a life sentence:

1) Radio communications between the MiG29 and the military base clearly show that the fighter planes were sent out before the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft arrived at the 24th parallel level, that they were searching for a specific target, and that they even decided not to attempt any warning maneuvers to make the shoot down easier for the Cuban MiG pilots. 

2) The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ conclusion stated the following: “From the circumstances surrounding the events of 24 February 1996, from the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of lethal force applied to the civilian aircraft, from the intensity of that force, and from the way in which the authorities at the Havana military control tower congratulated the MiG-29 pilots after they had carried out their orders, the Commission finds sufficient evidence that Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre were arbitrarily or extrajudicially executed at the hands of agents of the Cuban State. Consequently, the Cuban State is responsible for violating the right to life, as enshrined in Article I of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.”

3) U.S. courts have also found the Castro regime guilty of premeditation in this shoot down:

A.) U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King found the Castro regime guilty in civil court of planning the shoot down before the actual attack, and noted that there had been ample time to issue warnings to the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft if these had been needed. B.) A jury in criminal court presided by U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard found Miami-based Cuban spy Gerardo Hernandez guilty of conspiracy to commit murder because of his role in providing information to the Cuban government on the flight plans of Brothers to the Rescue. C.) On August 21, 2003 a U.S. grand jury indicted the two fighter pilots and their commanding general on murder charges for the 1996 shoot down.

4) A Cuban pilot saw Cuban MiGs rehearsing the shoot down six days before.

General Ruben Martinez Puente, Francisco Perez-Perez, Lorenzo Alberto Perez Perez who were indicted on four counts of murder, two counts of destruction of aircraft and one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals in August of 2003 and Juan Pablo Roque indicted in May 1999 as a foreign agent (although he also played a role in the shoot down) have yet to be pursued to the full extent of the law.

The silent vigil held on February 24th every year is a call to remembers the facts in the service of truth while demanding justice. Truth, memory and justice are necessary elements for a real and lasting national reconciliation. 

Join the hundreds of Florida International University students who since 1996 have stood up for national reconciliation in Cuba by demanding truth and justice in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.

Vigil for Victims of Castro and Maduro held at FIU on #24F

Silent Vigil for Justice on February 24, 2014 between 3:21pm and 3:27pm

 On February 24, 2014 starting at 3:21pm and ending promptly at 3:27pm there was a moment of silence for the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown that claimed the lives of Armando, Carlos, Mario and Pablo. This year we once again recognized and honored prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo who died on hunger strike on February 23, 2010.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published the most complete report on the February 24, 1996 shoot down and is available online.



Tragically, over the past two weeks at least 12 Venezuelan students have been murdered by agents of the Maduro regime in Caracas which is a puppet of the Castro regime in Havana. Therefore today we also prayed for them all and specifically for Bassil, Roberto, José Ernesto, and Génesis. We recognized their sacrifice and prayed for justice.

Following the vigil Miriam de la Peña whose own son, (Mario de la Peña) was murdered by the Castro regime spoke about the violence taking place against the students in Venezuela.



Below is a copy of the flier we distributed on campus:

Xavier Utset FCF Chairman 1997-1998 looks back over his tenure

Xavier Utset meeting with Russian human rights defender in Moscow

 As I look back to my Free Cuba Foundation (FCF) years (almost twenty years ago!) I think those were some of the most exciting times I have lived. Some of the memories from those days are indelible and I will keep forever.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of FCF the first thing we must do is pay homage and recognize the person who has made it possible: John Suarez. John has been the heart and soul of the organization and a true inspiration through the years. FCF would have long disappeared without John’s unremitting efforts and optimism. He has been a mentor, a friend, and a courageous partner in our efforts to see a better future for Cuba.

It was actually through John that I first learned of FCF. His passion recruiting members on campus was inspiring and I decided that I wanted to be part of it.

My most vivid memory of the FCF experience is the Armando Alonso campaign. Armando was a prisoner of conscience, a member of Ricardo Bofill’s Cuban Committee for Human Rights who had been imprisoned for "enemy propaganda." We decided to conduct a campaign for his liberation that lasted over a year. I happened to go on a semester abroad to Russia that year, so we expanded the campaign to include the support of democratic figures there. We also conducted campaigning in Italy that winter and made great efforts through the media as well as e-mail and the Internet, which were budding resources at the time. Armando was freed months later during Pope John Paul’s visit to Cuba in early 1998. I recall our first meeting with Armando in Miami, after his release. It was a priceless moment of humble but deep satisfaction.

October 3, 1997 with Ricardo Bofill of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights

That same year I finished my degree in international relations and entered the professional realm. I blame FCF for the exciting professional experiences I encountered since then. After FIU I spent the best part of the following fifteen years working in Cuba democracy programs with organizations in Miami and in Washington, DC. I have been blessed by being able to work on what I care deeply about. I have had the opportunity to meet, in Cuba, extraordinary individuals such as Oswaldo Paya, Laura Pollan, and Dagoberto Valdes, and so many other courageous activists who are such inspirational figures for all of us.

But the work for the likes of FCF is, unfortunately, far from over. It is sometimes heartbreaking to realize that after all our collective efforts, after so many years, Cuba has yet to accomplish its destiny as a free country. However we cannot afford to fall into despair; we cannot forget and disengage, passively, as if the future of Cuba was not our concern. It remains so, more than ever. As long as there are courageous Cubans on the island willing to risk their lives for a future of freedom and democracy, we must endure. And FCF will be there to contribute its part.

Xavier Utset

FCF Chairman 1997-1998

August 2, 2013

See The Lost City at Florida International University on July 6, 2011 at 8:00pm

Havana, Cuba in the late 1950's, a Cuban family is caught in the violent transition from the oppressive authoritarian regime of Batista to the oppressive Marxist regime of Fidel Castro.

 

Magnolia pictures gave approval for the Free Cuba Foundation to show "The Lost City," his 2005 exploration of Cuba in the turbulent 1950s. The screening will take place on July 6, 2011 at 8:00pm at Florida International University at Graham Center 283A at University Park campus (107th Ave and SW 16 Street Miami, FL). We are co-hosting the event with FIU Students for a Free Tibet. The film stars Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, Millie Perkins and Ines Sastre.  Millie Perkins starred as Anne Frank in the original film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959.

Interview with Andy Garcia about The Lost City at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival below:




Additional information will be posted shortly.