Thursday 07/15/2004 6:12:18pm Name: Jorge Espinosa E-Mail: Homepage Title: Justice for the 41 victims Homepage URL: http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/justicenow Referred By: Search Engine Location: Miami, FL Comments: It's hard to believe 10 years have passed, and still no justice! Not even the remains returned to their loved ones! Outrageous.

Monday 10/27/2003 10:57:06am Name: Miami Field Office - FBI E-Mail: Homepage Title: GRAND JURY INDICTS CUBAN OFFICIALS Homepage URL: http://miami.fbi.gov/pressrel/2003/mm082103a.htm Referred By: Search Engine Location: Comments: Miami Field Office Federal Bureau of Investigation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16320 N.W. 2nd Avenue North Miami Beach, FL 33169 (305) 787-6409 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release August 21, 2003 FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS CUBAN MiG PILOTS AND A CUBAN AIR FORCE GENERAL FOR MURDER OF AMERICAN NATIONALS IN CONNECTION WITH 1996 SHOOT DOWN OF BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE PLANES Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Hector Pesquera, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging, RUBEN MARTINEZ PUENTE, who was the head of the Cuban Air Force at the time of the shoot down, and LORENZO ALBERTO PEREZ-PEREZ and FRANCISCO PEREZ-PEREZ, who were Cuban air force pilots at the time of the shoot down, in connection with the 1996 murder of four U.S. nationals flying civilian aircraft over international waters. These planes were operated by members of Brothers to the Rescue ("BTTR"), a Miami-based organization whose stated purpose is to rescue rafters fleeing from the Republic of Cuba ("Cuba"). The indictment charges the three defendants with one count of Conspiracy to Kill U.S. Nationals, two counts of Destruction of Aircraft, and four counts of Murder. The maximum penalty for these charges is life imprisonment or the death penalty. In announcing the indictment, Jiménez stated: "Today the grand jury returned an indictment charging these individuals with the murder of three U.S. citizens and a U.S. permanent resident. Defendants Ruben Martinez Puente, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez deliberately set out to and did kill Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Pena and Armando Alejandre, defenseless U.S. nationals on a peaceful mission over international waters. As alleged in the indictment, this improper and unlawful shoot down was one part of a conspiracy undertaken on American soil through the activities of a Cuban espionage ring that infiltrated the United States. The conspiracy included a plan to lure the BTTR aircraft into flying on the day of the shoot down by ensuring that the FBI would not stop the flights." As the indictment alleges, the shootdown was part of a larger conspiracy in which Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated BTTR and reported back to Cuban intelligence officials about BTTR activities, as well as about United States military personnel and asset movement and United States military preparedness at the Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West, Florida, the United States military base closest to Cuba. This Cuban operation, dubbed "Operacion Escorpion," included as an integral player the Cuban Directorate of Intelligence ("DI"), whose intelligence officers and agents operated inside the United States. Ten Cuban intelligence operatives were convicted on or before June 2001 of various counts, including conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and operating in the United States as unregistered agents of a foreign government. One Cuban intelligence officer, Gerardo Hernandez, was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder for his part in the plot to shoot down the BTTR aircraft and murder the four U.S. victims. A federal jury in Miami, by its guilty verdict of Hernandez, found that a conspiracy to murder the BTTR fliers existed, and that its goal was the unlawful killing of those U.S. nationals in international airspace. The indictment returned today follows a thorough investigation into the remaining participants in the conspiracy to murder the four U.S. victims. According to the indictment, on February 24, 1996, three unarmed United States civilian Cessna aircraft with civilian markings left Opa-Locka Airport, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, with the stated purpose of rescuing rafters fleeing from Cuba. When their aircraft were destroyed, the BTTR pilots were flying away from Cuba over open ocean, more than 16 and 21 miles from the Cuban coast, respectively, in international airspace. Prior to that, they had announced their presence over open radio frequencies, communicated with Havana air traffic control during the flight and filed flight plans announcing their intent to save Cuban rafters. Specifically, today's indictment alleges that on February 13, 1996, Cuban intelligence agents Gerardo Hernandez and John Doe, a/k/a Alberto Manuel Ruiz, directed another agent to provide clear, detailed and precise information as to anticipated BTTR flights. They also ordered that agent not to join any such flights and directed that if he could not avoid flying with BTTR he should broadcast specified phrases via the aircraft's radio. On or about February 17, 1996, the DI relayed the instruction that under no circumstances should Cuban spies Juan Pablo Roque, a/k/a "German", or Rene Gonzalez, a/k/a "Castor", fly with BTTR or any other organization on February 24, 25, 26 and 27, coinciding with the meeting of Concilio Cubano, a Cuban dissident group advocating a peaceful transition to democratic government in Cuba. On February 21, 1996, Roque, who was acting as a double agent purportedly working with the FBI at the behest of the Cuban government, informed the FBI that BTTR was not planning to fly the weekend of February 24, 1996. Roque knew this information was false and deliberately set in motion the Cuban government plan to lure the BTTR flights by ensuring that the FBI did not stop the BTTR planes from flying. During the next two days, the Cuban handlers for Roque and his fellow spy Gonzalez met with each of them to further ensure Roque and Gonzalez did not fly with BTTR. Thereafter, on February 23, 1996, the day before the murder of the four U.S. nationals on board the BTTR aircraft, Roque left Miami as directed and returned to Cuba. On February 24, 1996, at approximately 1:30 p.m., three unarmed United States civilian aircraft operated by BTTR, bearing tail numbers N2506, N2456S and N5485S, left Opa-Locka Airport, in Miami-Dade County, Florida. At approximately 3:00 p.m., the Cuban Air Force launched two jet fighter aircraft, a MiG 29 piloted by defendants Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez, and a MiG 23, from San Antonio military base, located near Havana, Cuba. At approximately 3:20 p.m., the MiG 29 aircraft piloted by the defendants urgently demanded that ground control "authorize" them, but never specified the acts for which they were seeking authorization. Despite the BTTR pilots' contact with the Havana air traffic control tower and the fact that they were heading away from Cuba, the BTTR aircraft received no warning that the shooting down of their aircraft was imminent. No efforts were made to request that the BTTR aircraft alter their course or land. The orders to destroy their aircraft were unreasonable and patently improper. At approximately 3:21 p.m., defendants Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez destroyed one unarmed civilian aircraft over international waters more than 16 miles from the Cuban coast by means of an air-to-air missile, killing pilot Carlos Costa, a U.S. citizen, and his passenger, Pablo Morales, a U.S. permanent resident. At approximately 3:26 p.m., defendant Ruben Martinez Puente personally authorized the MiG 29 aircraft piloted by defendants Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez to destroy a second unarmed civilian aircraft operated by BTTR. At approximately 3:28 p.m., defendants Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez destroyed the second unarmed civilian aircraft 21 miles from the Cuban coast by means of an air-to-air missile, killing pilot Mario de la Pena and his passenger, Armando Alejandre, both U.S. citizens. U.S. Attorney Jiménez stated, "This indictment is the next step in ensuring that those responsible for the premeditated murder of defenseless U.S. nationals are brought to justice. There is simply no justification - legal or otherwise - for their actions, and as such, they must face the consequences." Jiménez commended the outstanding investigative efforts of the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David M. Buckner and John S. Kastrenakes.

Tuesday 08/26/2003 5:09:21pm Name: Damaris Santana E-Mail: freecuba@hotmail.com Homepage Title: Brothers to the Rescue Homepage URL: http://www.hermanos.org/ Referred By: Search Engine Location: Miami Comments: Indictments name three in Cuban military By CATHERINE WILSON THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted August 22, 2003 MIAMI -- A Cuban general and two fighter pilots have been indicted in the shooting down of two civilian planes in 1996 over the Florida Strait, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. The four men aboard the planes were killed. The three accused men are in Cuba, and extradition is impossible because no diplomatic relations exist between Cuba and the United States. Gen. Ruben Martinez Puente, who was then head of the Cuban air force, and pilots Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez were named in the indictment. The charges against the men include murder, conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and destruction of aircraft. The penalties include up to life in prison or the death penalty. Cuba's intent was "to terrorize the Cuban population" on the island and in Miami, U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez said at a news conference announcing the indictment. "These were defenseless U.S. nationals who were carrying out a humanitarian mission over international waters." The planes of the group Brothers to the Rescue were shot down by two Cuban MiGs in Feb. 24, 1996, over international waters as three aircraft searched for migrant rafters trying to flee Cuba. A third plane, carrying Brothers to the Rescue leader Jose Basulto and two observers, was not hit. On several flights before that day, members of the group had violated Cuba's airspace and dropped leaflets over the island supporting human rights. Basulto called the indictment "a step in the right direction." Cuban-American activists have been lobbying for the indictment of Cuban President Fidel Castro in the attack. "The fact that the indictment is taking place is a good measure because it's sending a signal to Cuba," Basulto said Thursday. "I expect the indictment of Castro takes place shortly because he's the one that ordered the shootdown, and that is well-documented." There was no comment from the Cuban government. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-aseccuba22082203aug22,0,6706303.story?coll=orl-news-headlines

Monday 05/05/2003 1:18:42pm Name: Andres Perez E-Mail: Homepage Title: Homepage URL: Referred By: Search Engine Location: USA Comments: They are not forgotten. Justice for them all!

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