United Nations Press Statement on the 1996 Opa-Locka Shootdown, (7 March 1996) New York, NY
Speech Text
[1] I’d like to introduce some of the members of our 13 person group participating here today. Miriam de la Peña, mother of Mario de la Peña, I am Jose Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue; Mr. Armando Alejandre, father of Armando Alejandre who also died in the aircraft that was downed; Silvia Iriondo from M.A.R. for Cuba, she is a survivor of the flight she was on, the only aircraft that escaped; Mr. Mario de la Peña, father of young Mario de la Peña—the photographs of the assassinated young men are here; Arnaldo Iglesias from Brothers to the Rescue; Ana Tamargo from Alianza de Jovenes Cubanos and Mrs. Armando Alejandre, the mother of Armando Alejandre, Jr who was killed in the attack.
[2] I want to read a statement to you and then we’ll proceed to questions:
“On the afternoon of February 24, three small civilian and unarmed search and rescue planes left OpaLocka Airport on a humanitarian search and rescue mission in the straits of Florida. Similar to 1,900 others that have been conducted by Brothers to the Rescue since 1991. Only one returned. These small planes maintained radio contact and monitored the frequency of Havana Center. These aircraft reported their presence in the area and the nature of their mission. Furthermore they identified themselves with Cuban radar as customary. But without warning and while flying in international waters, two of the planes were shot down by Cuban MIGs. They were American planes carrying American and Cuban citizens. This was a brutal murder committed without warning and in broad daylight—a complete disregard for the values and rights of human lives and the principles of international laws and civilized societies.
[3] “The Castro regime has been lying for 37 years and has continually demonstrated their complete disdain for human rights as well as a fatal disregard for the principles that govern civilized society. Brothers to the Rescue is and always has been committed to individual freedom, human rights and non-violence. For 30 years my nation was caught in a vice-like grip, caught in the middle of a struggle between super powers. Armed by the Soviet Union, Castro’s dictatorship sought to maintain power at any cost including the killing of unarmed civilians. This same dictatorship and the brutal practices that keep it in power have been condemned year after year since 1988 by the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations. This regime has consistently denied entrance into Cuba to the United Nations representatives seeking to investigate human rights violations.
[4] “What is the international community to do when faced by an outlaw regime with an endless record of human rights violations that has refused to abide by universal ethical principles? What is the international community to do when this regime has viciously and consistently shown its willingness to massacre unarmed civilians as occurred with the July 13, 1994 tugboat massacre and the February 24, 1996 drowning of unarmed civilian aircraft?
[5] “These are questions that address the very nature of a post-cold war world. They must be answered. Today freedom loving Cubans propose an international tribunal of human rights violations in Cuba be established and endowed with powers of sanction by the office of the Secretary General of the United Nations. We will pursue this initiative through friendly nations and non-governmental organizations as the only way of possibly preventing the Castro regime from unleashing weapons of mass destruction on its own population when it seems itself about to lose power before its own people. This international tribunal may be the only want of prohibiting the Castro regime from the policy of exterminating the hundreds of dissidents and opposition groups leaders that have been arrested inside Cuba in recent weeks.
[6] “The international community did not act promptly in the case of former Yugoslavia, but we may still be in time to do so in Cuba. Thank you very much.”
