To promote a nonviolent transition to a Cuba that respects human rights, political and economic freedoms, and the rule of law.
Vigil and Mass for Brothers to the Rescue. Ukraine marks two years of war.
Families of Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales hold vigil at FIU on 2/23
Earlier today on X, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart explained in a postthe significance of both the February 24, 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot down that murdered four U.S. residents in international airspace, and the expansion of hostilities against Ukraine by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 1996. The implications of abandoning democrats has global consequences.
“Today, on the anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, and the anniversary of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, we are reminded of the dangerousness of appeasing tyrants. The U.S. must stand in strong solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and all those struggling for freedom against brutality, by denying all legitimacy and support to their oppressors. If not stopped in Ukraine, Putin will continue his march further into Europe. Not only he, but his allies in Cuba, Venezuela, the PRC, and Iran would be further emboldened as a result.”
This is why hundreds of Cuban organizations on and off the island signed a letter on January 18, 2024 calling on the United States not to abandon Ukraine. In the letter they mentioned how Cuban fighters were abandoned in the field during the Bay of Pigs,. Sadly, this was not the only such episode experienced by free Cubans.
Tonight at Saint Agatha Church, located across the street from Florida International University, families of the four Cuban martyrs requested and attended a special mass for their loved ones.
Mass at St. Agatha Church on February 24, 2024.
This morning at the Brothers to the Rescue memorial at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport members of the humanitarian organization, and family members of Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales gathered to remember, and demand truth and justice for their loved ones murdered by the dictatorship 28 years ago.
Brothers to the Rescue founder Jose Basulto (seated) with his sons, and daughter on February 24, 2024.
At 3:21 and 3:27 PM on February 24, 1996, Lorenzo Alberto Peréz Peréz's MiG-29 fired heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, destroying the two planes Mario de la Peña, 24, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, 30, and Armando Alejandre Jr., 45 were in, killing the four men. Mario, Carlos, Pablo, and Armando belonged to.Brothers to the Rescue, a humanitarian group, that saved the lives of thousands of rafters in the 1990s in the Florida Straits.
Mario de la Peña’s mother and aunt (center) today at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport.
Havana’s murderous conspiracy
Cuban spies learned the flight schedules of Brothers to the Rescue and were instructed not to fly on February 24, 1996 and, if they had to, to alert the MiGs with a motion while in flight to save them from suffering the same fate as the other planes.
Ana Belen Montes, a Cuban spy working in the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, carried out an influence operation to shift responsibility from the Cuban dictatorship, to its victims in Brothers the Rescue.
Twenty eight years later, and we are just learning that Ambassador Manuel Roche, a high level spy for Havana, who in 1996 was the principal deputy of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, and may have played a role in assisting the Cuban dictatorship minimize its accountability in this act of terrorism it committed against U.S. civilians in international airspace.
Members of the Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, and Pablo Morales present today at the memorial.
This was a premeditated killing over international airspace. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded that the two planes "were shot down 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."
Family members held a silent vigil for their loved ones on February 23rd, gathering at 3:15 pm at Florida International University, the vigil started at 3:21pm and ended at 3:27pm. These were the times when the first and second plane were shot down.
On February 22nd a vigil was held in Washington DC outside of the Embassy of Cuba demanding justice for the four Brothers to the Rescue martyrs, and for Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who was killed by prison officials while on a huinger strike on February 23, 2010..
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