§6046 Condemnation of Cuban Attack on American Aircraft

Summary

Congress condemns the Cuban government's shooting down of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996. Brothers to the Rescue is a Miami group that searches for and helps Cuban refugees and had flown similar missions since 1991. The planes were unarmed, told air traffic controllers their plans to fly south of the 24th parallel near Cuba, and did not threaten Cuba. Cuba scrambled two MiG fighter jets. At about 3:24 p.m., one jet shot down a plane more than 6 miles north of the Cuban exclusion zone (18 miles from the Cuban coast). About 7 minutes later a second plane was shot down almost 18.5 miles north of the exclusion zone (30.5 miles from the coast). There were no survivors from those two planes; a third crew escaped. The killed crew members were U.S. citizens Pablo Morales, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Armando Alejandre. Congress says the use of lethal force was wrong and violated international law. It notes the attack came after a week of repression against Concilio Cubano that included arrests, strip searches, house arrests, and some sentences over 1 year. Congress offers condolences to the victims’ families and urges the President to ask the International Court of Justice to seek indictment for this act.