Remembering and honoring Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo
Morales.
Silent vigil for justice today at Florida International University (Photo Alvaro Mata)
Family members, students and
members of the university community held a silent vigil for justice
for the four victims of the February 24, 1996 shoot down. The vigil took place at the main fountain at Florida International University located between theCharlesE.PerryBldg. and
the Green Library on February 26, Monday
from 3:21pm to 3:27pm the times both planes were shot down. Family members and
students began to gather at 3:15pm.
Family members hold vigil at FIU for their loved ones. (Photo: Alvaro Mata)
2018 marks 22 years since Fidel and
Raul Castro ordered Cuban MiGs toshoot down two Brothers to theRescue 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 for Human Rights on the merits made public in 1999 concluded:that the
Castro regime was legally responsible for their murders and for the lack of
justice.
Students, staff, and members of the FIU community took part in the vigil today.
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 totheBrotherstotheRescueshoot 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.
Former prisoner of conscience Regis Iglesias, together with family, friends at vigil
Among the attendees today was Regis Iglesias Ramirez, spokesman of the Christian Liberation Movement and former prisoner of conscience, who paid his respects to the victims and their family members.
Regis Iglesias Ramirez pays his respects to the four martyrs
On Saturday, February 24, 2018 in Cuba several opposition activists were detained while attempting to pay homage to the victims of the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.
"To
forget the victims means to kill them a second time. So I couldn't
prevent the first death. I surely must be capable of saving them from a
second death." - Elie Wiesel
Vigil hosted at the main fountain at Florida
International University 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 they flew through international airspace
searching for rafters.
Family members and friends of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La
Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. will be in attendance. This event is for
FIU students and members of the FIU Community and has been held annually
since 1996.
Fact Sheet on February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue Shoot down
February 24, 1996 shoot down was an act of state terrorism that blew two civilian aircraft
out of the sky with air to air missiles while in international airspace after regime planned
the act months beforehand with its espionage network in the United States. FACT 1: By definition: Terrorism is the calculated use of
violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to
attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature;
this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear) http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=terrorism
FACT 2: Cuba is responsible for violating the right to life (Article I of the American Declaration
of the Rights and Duties of Man) to the detriment of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La
Peña, and Armando Alejandre, who died as a result of the direct actions of its agents on the
afternoon of 24 February 1996 while flying through international airspace.
FACT 3: Cuba is responsible for violating the right to a fair trial (Article XVIII of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man) to the detriment of the relatives of Carlos Costa,
Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña, and Armando Alejandre, in that to date the Cuban authorities
have not conducted an exhaustive investigation with a view toward prosecuting and punishing
the perpetrators and have not indemnified those same relatives for the damage they suffered as a
result of those illicit acts.
FACT 4: In Alejandre v. Republic of Cuba, 996 F.Supp. 1239 (S.D.Fla. 1997), a federal district
court awarded the families of three of the four occupants of the “ Brothers to the Rescue” planes
shot down by Cuba in 1996 a total of $187.7 million in damages against Cuba.
FACT 5: WASP spy network was involved. One of the “illegal officers” (Gerardo Hernandez)
was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder based on his role in the February 24,
1996, shoot-down of two unarmed civilian aircraft in international airspace by Cuban Air Force
jet fighters, which resulted in the deaths of four people, three of them U.S. citizens.
FACT 6: Brothers to the Rescue had spotted and saved thousands of rafters in the Florida Straits
and was engaged in such a mission on that day. The one plane that skirted the boundary briefly
was the only one to return. The other two were shotdown miles away from Cuba’s boundary
having never entered or touched it on that day and the planes had been in contact with the Cuban
tower throughout the flight.
FACT 7: On July 26, 1996 the United Nations Security Council: "Noting that the unlawful
downing of two civil aircraft on 24 February by the Cuban Air Force violated the principle that
States must refrain from using weapons against airborne civil aircraft, the Security Council this
afternoon condemned such use as being incompatible with the rules of customary international
law "
FACT 8: Ana Belen Montes, the US intelligence community's top analyst on Cuban affairs had
throughout a sixteen-year career at the Defense Intelligence Agency sent the Cuba intelligence
service sensitive and secret information and helped to shape US opinion on Cuba. Investigation
against her was triggered by her odd behavior before and after the Brothers to the Rescue shoot
down. On September 21 2001 Ana Belen Montes was arrested and subsequently charged with
Conspiracy to Commit Espionage for the government of Cuba. Montes eventually pleaded guilty
to spying, and in October, 2002, she was sentenced to a 25-year prison term followed by 5 years
of probation.
FACT 9: On December 27, 2010 and again in a January 19, 2011 clarification the defense of
Cuban spy-master Gerardo Hernandez acknowledged that "there was overwhelming evidence
that the 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes occurred in international
airspace, not Cuban territory."
FACT 10: On December 17, 2014 President Barack Obama commuted Gerardo Hernandez’s two life
sentences and returned him along with two other spies jailed for crimes in the United States to
Cuba where they were received with a hero’s welcome in what is an immense propaganda victory for the Castro regime.
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.
Over the past 20 years the Free Cuba Foundation has observed the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down with a silent vigil for justice. Let us continue this tradition in the defense of memory, truth and justice which is necessary for reconciliation.
Letter published February 22, 2016 8:55 PM
The Miami Herald
Brothers to the Rescue memorial
Twenty years ago this week, four Brothers to the Rescue
fliers were shot down and killed on the orders of Fidel Castro while
they flew two civilian planes through international airspace in a search
and rescue mission for Cuban rafters.
Killed were Mario de la Peña, 24; Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, both 30, and Armando Alejandre Jr., 45, all of Miami-Dade.
What drove them to risk their lives on board small civilian planes
flying through the Florida Straits? The knowledge that somewhere as many
as 100,000 Cubans have died trying to flee Cuba.
The
monied interests are pushing a message in the media that young
Cuban-Americans don’t care about what has gone on in the past or that
human rights continue to be systematically violated today while at the
same time pushing a business agenda with the Castro regime.
If
you want to counter this false narrative, then there’s something that
you can do. On Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 3 p.m., join us at the main
fountain at FIU to join hands in a moment of silence for these four
heroes that will begin at 3:21 p.m.
