Cuba Siglo 21 says that the case of Luis Raúl González-Pardo, who lives in the United States, “goes beyond the migration issue”
14ymedio, Havana, 17 September 2024 — The organization Cuba Siglo 21 pronounced this Tuesday on the case of the former pilot of the Cuban Armed Forces Luis Raúl González-Pardo, who has been living in the United States since April thanks to the Humanitarian Parole program. According to its report, the situation “goes beyond the immigration issue” and must be referred to the Florida Prosecutor’s Office, given the involvement of the former soldier in the shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.
The Prosecutor’s Office – argues Cuba Siglo 21 – must decide whether to proceed in trying González Pardo for being part of the group of pilots who harassed the unarmed aircraft of the humanitarian organization and killed four people (three Cubans with US citizenship and one resident). “At the very least, he should be interrogated about those facts.”
The issue in question, which the González-Pardo case once again puts into discussion, is the legal defense of “due obedience.” The international community, explains Cuba Siglo 21, does not recognize this allegation, which aims to justify ” first-degree, premeditated murder” with the statement that the person was only following orders.
Both the 13 de Marzo Tugboat sinking and the shooting down of the planes of Hermanos al Rescate were ambushed with premeditation and treachery from intelligence information
The organization gives two recent examples in Cuban history: the shoot down of the planes in 1996 – from which the former pilot cannot detach himself, although he allegedly did not shoot – and, two years earlier, the sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat, in which “unarmed Cuban families trying to migrate” died.
“Both the 13 de Marzo Tugboat sinking and the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes were ambushes with premeditation and treachery from intelligence information previously provided to the Cuban government by its agents and informants. They were not actions of war, but planned homicides. Both acts constitute crimes against humanity that do not expire,” the organization believes.
In the opinion of Cuba Siglo 21, those who boarded the Mig fighter jets – including González-Pardo, who was in number 22 – “left that day ready to kill.” In the recording of the radio communications of the attack, it argues, the former pilot reports that one of the Brothers to the Rescue planes was “in his sights” and that he was waiting for instructions to proceed. This action “leaves no doubt about the intentions that morning of the migrant who now lives peacefully in Jacksonville, Florida.”
“It’s not about intolerance, revenge or resentment, nor about ’settling the score’ with that pilot. What is actually urgent is to bring to trial in this case the very concept of ‘due obedience’ to criminal orders that are almost without exception raised by human rights violators in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other similar regimes,” summarizes the statement.
This Monday, the independent journalist Mario Pentón tried to communicate with the pilot
This Monday, when independent journalist Mario Pentón tried to communicate with the pilot, González-Pardo claimed that much of what had been said about him in the media was “false.” Then, however, he hung up the phone and deleted his WhatsApp number. He had described his situation as “very difficult.” After a lifetime in the service of the Regime – first as a military pilot and then in civil aviation positions, as director of Terminal 2 of the José Martí International Airport – he had accepted the Humanitarian Parole offered by the United States. “I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do, or if I’m going to give interviews or not, mainly because of some additional situations that I have and that can affect me,” he said.
Pentón also shared this Tuesday an internal document from the US Department of State, obtained by Martí Noticias and dated 2016 – in the midst of the thaw initiated by then-President Barack Obama – in which González-Pardo asks to speed up the US consular interview to grant him a tourist visa for being a “facilitator” of high-level travel and a “key diplomatic contact” when organizing exchanges between the two countries. His visit – to “observe firsthand American culture” – was considered of interest by Washington, so his consular interview was moved up twice.
According to several sources, González-Pardo was the man who was at the controls of the Mig 29 that chased José Basulto
According to several sources, González-Pardo was the man who was at the controls of the Mig 29 that chased José Basulto – the leader of Brothers to the Rescue – to the north of the 24th parallel, in the Straits of Florida. Basulto himself confirmed this information to the military pilot Orestes Lorenzo, who escaped to the United States in 1991 and returned, despite the risks, to pick up his family.
After it became known that Washington gave the go-ahead to the former pilot, a barrage of criticism and questioning about the Cuban migrant has fallen on US authorities.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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