Press conference on January 24, 2025, the 50th anniversary of the Fraunces Tavern bombing at the site of the attack in NYC to remember, and continue to demand justice. Joe Connor addresses journalists. On the right flier advertising February 24th vigil by families of the four martyrs.
Twenty one years, and one month separate two terrorist acts linked to Havana that each killed four innocent Americans.
On January 24, 1975, the Havana-backed Puerto Rican terrorist group Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN) carried out a bombing attack at lunch time at the Fraunces Tavern in New York City that claimed the lives of Alejandro Berger, 28; Frank Connor, 33; James Gezork ,32; and Harold Sherburne, 66; and injured more than fifty others. The FALN’s bombmaker William Morales, a fugitive from U.S. justice, is harbored today in Cuba by the communist dictatorship.
On February 24, 1996, four human-rights activists searching for rafters on the Florida Straits were murdered by agents of the Cuban dictatorship in international airspace. Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, presented irrefutable evidence to the international community of Cuba’s responsibility for this terrorist act. President Bill Clinton called it a “flagrant violation of international law.” Mario de la Peña, 24; Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales, both 29; and Armando Alejandro Jr., 45, were members of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue. Their two small Cessna aircraft were pulverized by Cuban missiles. Their bodies were never recovered.
President Barack Obama commuted the sentence of the unrepentant Puerto Rican terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera in January 2017. Lopez Rivera headed the FALN at the time of the Fraunces Tavern bombing.
The President also commuted the sentence of Gerardo Hernández in December 2014, the unrepentant Cuban spy found guilty of murder conspiracy for providing information to Havana that led to to the shootdown and killing four innocents in international airspace by Cuban warplanes.
Those advocating to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, including President Obama, have sought to downplay or ignore these crimes of terror against Americans, and other nationalities.
However, those directly impacted by these acts of terror continue to demand justice, accountability, and engage in acts of remembrance.
On January 24, 2025, the 50th anniversary of the Fraunces Tavern attack, friends, families, and investigators gathered at the site of the attack to remember the dead, and continue to demand justice.
On February 24, 2025, the 29th anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown friends, and families of the four martyrs will again gather at the main fountain at Florida International University for a moment of silence at 3:15pm.
On February 24, 2021, one year prior to her death, Ambassador Madeleine K. Albright wrote in a tweet: “25 years ago today, in an act of pure cowardice, the Castro regime shot down four pilots of Brothers To The Rescue. My thoughts are with the families of these heroes and all who still yearn for change in Cuba”. (https://twitter.com/madeleine/status/1364605438189318149). This tweet echoed the statements and actions then Secretary of State Albright made in February 1996 when she released transcripts of the Cuban pilots engaged in the attack that demonstrated that they knew the Brothers to the Rescue planes to be unarmed, and the glee when they destroyed the planes, and killed the four men.
“I was struck by the joy of these pilots in committing coldblooded murder,″ Albright said as she released the transcripts. “Frankly, this is not `cojones. This is cowardice.″
Later, the actual audio of the attack was released.
The current Administration, with its America First agenda, has prioritized the lives of Americans held hostage abroad, and calling out terrorism against Americans.
President Donald J. Trump on June 16, 2017 announced a tightening of sanctions on the Cuban dictatorship and delivered the following message to the Cuban dictatorship in which he referenced the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down.
“To the Cuban Government, I say: Put an end to the abuse of dissidents; release the political prisoners; stop jailing innocent people; open yourselves to political and economic freedoms; return the fugitives from American justice, including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard; and finally, hand over the Cuban military criminals who shot down and killed four brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in unarmed, small, slow civilian planes. Those victims included Mario de la Peña, Jr., and Carlos Costa. We are honored to be joined today by Mario’s parents Miriam and Mario and Carlos’s sister Mirta. Where are you? Huh? Those are great, great parents who love their children so much. What they’ve done is just an incredible, incredible thing. What they represent—they did not die in vain—what they represent to everybody, and especially to the Cuban people. So your children did not die in vain, believe me. So to the Castro regime, I repeat: The harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on January 24, 2025 remembered the Fraunces Tavern bombing victims, and the Cuban dictatorship’s continued harboring and support of terrorists, including FALN bomber William Morales in a statement published by the State Department.
“Today, we solemnly commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tragic bombing at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. On January 24, 1975, the Puerto Rican terrorist group Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN) carried out a terrorist bombing attack that claimed the lives of four innocent individuals and injured more than fifty others. As we reflect on this somber day, we honor the memory of those who perished in the explosion: Alejandro Berger, Frank Connor, James Gezork, and Harold Sherburne. Their untimely deaths remind us of the devastating impact of terrorism and the enduring pain it inflicts on families and communities. The Fraunces Tavern bombing was a stark reminder of the threats posed by terrorist ideologies and the lengths to which some will go to advance their causes. In the aftermath of the bombing, our nation came together to support the victims and their families, demonstrating the resilience and unity that define the American spirit. The FBI and other agencies worked tirelessly to capture William Morales, one of the key figures in the FALN, in an attempt to bring him to justice. Morales escaped from prison in the United States, fleeing to Mexico, eventually making his way to Cuba, where Dictator Fidel Castro granted him safe haven. To this day, Cuba continues harboring him and other wanted U.S. fugitives and terrorists. Today, we commemorate the lives lost on that tragic day. We must also recommit ourselves to demanding that wanted U.S. fugitives under the Cuban regime’s protection be brought to justice. We owe the victims and the American people our unwavering commitment to holding the Cuban regime accountable.”
You can learn more about these two terrible events by purchasing Shattered Lives: Overcoming the Fraunces Tavern Terror (2018) and Seagull One: The Amazing True Story of Brothers to the Rescue (2010), books written by thos directly impacted. You can also watch the recently released documentary Shattered Lives, based on the book by the same name.
U.S. State Department, January 24, 2025
Remembering the Fraunces Tavern Bombing and the Cuban Regime’s Continued Support of Terrorists
Today, we solemnly commemorate the 50th anniversary of the tragic bombing at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. On January 24, 1975, the Puerto Rican terrorist group Armed Forces for National Liberation (FALN) carried out a terrorist bombing attack that claimed the lives of four innocent individuals and injured more than fifty others.
As we reflect on this somber day, we honor the memory of those who perished in the explosion: Alejandro Berger, Frank Connor, James Gezork, and Harold Sherburne. Their untimely deaths remind us of the devastating impact of terrorism and the enduring pain it inflicts on families and communities.
The Fraunces Tavern bombing was a stark reminder of the threats posed by terrorist ideologies and the lengths to which some will go to advance their causes. In the aftermath of the bombing, our nation came together to support the victims and their families, demonstrating the resilience and unity that define the American spirit. The FBI and other agencies worked tirelessly to capture William Morales, one of the key figures in the FALN, in an attempt to bring him to justice.
Morales escaped from prison in the United States, fleeing to Mexico, eventually making his way to Cuba, where Dictator Fidel Castro granted him safe haven. To this day, Cuba continues harboring him and other wanted U.S. fugitives and terrorists. Today, we commemorate the lives lost on that tragic day. We must also recommit ourselves to demanding that wanted U.S. fugitives under the Cuban regime’s protection be brought to justice. We owe the victims and the American people our unwavering commitment to holding the Cuban regime accountable.
Why a return to Obama-era policy on Cuba would be a big mistake
by John Suarez, opinion contributor – 01/08/25 12:00 PM ET
Ten years after Barack Obama’s surprise reopening of diplomatic relations with Cuba, rolled back by Donald Trump in 2017, some are now opining on President Biden’s legacy by calling for a return to Obama’s failed policy. But they are leaving out key facts to advance their claim that the 2014 thaw was successful.
The late Democratic senator for New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, observed that “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” This also holds true in the conversation over U.S.-Cuba policy. President Obama’s claim that the U.S. “changing its relationship with the people of Cuba” was among “the most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years” ignored the past actions of the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations to do the same.
The repeated good-faith unilateral concessions by Washington, under these four prior presidencies, were responded to by Havana with actions that negatively impacted U.S. national interests in Latin America, Africa and in the United States. This included facilitating the entry of narcotics into the United States, giving terrorists safe harbor, resources and training that resulted in the deaths of Americans on American soil in 1975 and 1977, and directly participating in state terrorism in international airspace that resulted in the deaths of Americans in 1996.
In 2015, the Obama State Department removed Cuba from the list of states that sponsor terrorism in response to a public demand by Raul Castro that the full restoration of diplomatic relations be contingent upon Cuba being removed from the list.
During Obama’s thaw with Havana, violence increased against Cuban dissidents, the Cuban government weaponized migration, with over 120,000 Cubans entering the United States through Central America, and U.S. diplomats in Havana began suffering brain damage in 2016 in what the Biden administration would call “anomalous health incidents but became better known as the Havana Syndrome.
Furthermore, defenders of Obama’s Cuba policy make no mention of diplomatic slights against Obama by Havana, including Raul Castro presiding over a military parade on Jan. 2, 2017, where Cuban soldiers chanted they’d shoot Obama so many times in the head that they’d make him a hat of lead.
Despite this, on his way out of office, Obama provided two additional concessions responding positively to two long-standing demands by the Cuban dictatorship: ending the Wet-Foot Dry-Foot policy, which allowed Cuban legal status if they touched U.S. soil, and the Cuban Professional Medical Parole program, which provided trafficked Cuban doctors with asylum. These policy changes hurt ordinary Cubans, but helped the dictatorship.
The Trump administration did not end all of the Obama thaw, but did pursue a policy of not providing resources to the Cuban military, and providing victims of the dictatorship a new avenue for redress.
After normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations, Obama’s secretary of State, John Kerry said in an interview on Sept. 9, 2020, “It’s fair to say that everybody shares a little bit of disappointment about the direction that the government in Cuba chose to go.” Kerry continued, “Cuba seemed to harden down after the initial steps were taken.”
Candidate Joe Biden on the campaign trail in 2020 said he wanted to return to the Obama opening, but facts on the ground forced him to change course. The images coming out of Cuba of regime agents beating and gunning down nonviolent protesters during nationwide protests of July 2021, then following up with draconian prison sentences against many of the demonstrators, made rapprochement with the dictatorship politically untenable.
Nevertheless, President Biden, 10 months after the July 2021 protests and crackdown, provided unilateral concessions to Havana in what was euphemistically described as “new measures to support the Cuban people” but contained specific actions that empowered the dictatorship. For example, the expansion of educational exchanges ignored FBI concerns about Havana using these openings to recruit spies and undermine U.S. national security. This policy also loosened travel restrictions.
The Cuban military through its conglomerate, the Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A., and its sub-entity Gaviota, the military’s tourism arm, profited from the expansion of authorized travel by the Obama and Biden administrations, but the Castro regime could not fully exploit it due to poor decisions taken by Havana.
Moscow offered Havana $1.36 billion in 2015 to repair and build new generators, but Cuban officials did not take them up on it, due to other priorities. While Cuba’s infrastructure collapses due to lack of maintenance, the dictatorship continues to build luxury hotels across the country with their own generators for tourists, as millions of Cubans are kept in the dark. It did not have to be that way, but it is Havana’s — not Washington’s — fault.
The European Union and Canada continue to send millions of Euros and Canadian dollars to the Cuban dictatorship. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, stated in Havana on May 25, 2023, that the 27-member bloc remained Cuba’s biggest trading partner and one devoted to “mutual respect.” He said that the EU accounted for about one-third of the island’s foreign trade, “versus 8% by China or 8% by Russia,” reported Euractiv on May 26, 2023.
This economic engagement has not prevented Cuban soldiers from donning Russian uniforms and fighting for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, Havana openly supporting Moscow’s invasion of its European neighbor ,or Cuban agents assisting Nicolas Maduro in undermining democracy in Venezuela and torturing Venezuelan dissidents.
The advocates for returning to the Obama Cuba policy would have the United States join in the complicity of the European Union and Canada in subsidizing with tax dollars a 65-year-old dictatorship, helping to enrich a corrupt ruling class while everyday Cubans continue to suffer under their oppressive rule, and providing Havana resources to help create more Nicaraguas and Venezuelas in Latin America and sponsor international terrorism.
John Suarez is the executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba, and a former program officer for Latin America programs at Freedom House.
Miami Herald, March 16, 2023
Cuban terrorists killed four U.S. human–rights activists. Biden should bring them to justice
By Frank Calzon and John Suarez
March 16, 2023 1:18 PM
On a sunny afternoon 27 years ago — Feb 24, 1996 — four human–rights activists searching for rafters on the Florida Straits were murdered by Cuban warplanes. Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, presented irrefutable evidence to the international community of Cuba’s responsibility for this terrorist act.
After the murders, the White House promised that justice would be done. The Miami Herald reported several indictments, but the trial was never held because of prosecutorial discretion.
Mario de la Peña, 24; Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales, both 30; and Armando Alejandro Jr., 45, were members of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue. Their two small Cessna aircraft were pulverized by Cuban missiles. Their bodies were never recovered. Fidel and Raúl Castro were responsible for the crime. Raúl was then minister of the armed forces and has acknowledged he gave the order. It was a premeditated act of state terrorism.
Fidel died in 2016, 10 years after relinquishing power to his brother. Raúl Castro had been acting president since 2006, formally becoming president on Feb. 24, 2008. He no longer is president, but a member of Cuba’s parliament. No international law provides sovereign immunity to parliamentarians.
The statute of limitations does not apply to terrorist acts, yet, today, some lawmakers in the U.S. Congress support Cuba’s demand that it be removed from the State Department’s terrorist list.
In 2000, Cuban spymaster Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to a double life sentence for espionage and murder conspiracy, for the information he provided Havana that contributed to the shootdown. His sentence was commuted in December 2014, during President Obama’s thaw with Raúl Castro. Hernandez now is charged with overseeing surveillance activities over the entire Cuban populace and is rumored to be Miguel Diaz-Canel’s successor.
Federal prosecutors in 2003 indicted Gen. Ruben Martinez Puente, the head of Cuba’s Air Force, and Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez and Francisco Perez-Perez, the two pilots involved in the shootdown. But the three have not been brought to justice, even after 20 years. Puente died on July 24, 2021 at age 79.
“The Cuban government has not demonstrated that it will refrain from the use of excessive force against United States vessels or aircraft that may engage in memorial activities or peaceful protest north of Cuba,” the Biden administration states in its Feb. 17 “Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Cuba and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Vessels.”
Raúl Castro should follow his subordinates who executed his directive and were charged with this crime. He should be indicted. Failure to hold them accountable encourages Cuba to commit other egregious acts of state terror.
Frank Calzon is former executive director of Center for a Free Cuba. John Suarez is executive director of Center for a Free Cuba.
https://www.miamiherald.com/
The American Presidency Project, June 16, 2017
Remarks on Signing a Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba in Miami, Florida
Audience members. Trump! Trump! Trump!
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. And thank you to my truly great friend, Vice President Mike Pence. He’s terrific. And thank you to Miami. We love Miami.
Let me start by saying that I’m glad Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and I, along with a very talented team, were able to get Otto Warmbier back with his parents. What’s happened to him is a truly terrible thing, but at least the ones who love him so much can now take care of him and be with him.
Also, my dear friend, Steve Scalise, took a bullet for all of us. And because of him and the tremendous pain and suffering he’s now enduring—and he’s having a hard time, far worse than anybody thought—our country will perhaps become closer, more unified. So important.
So we all owe Steve a big, big thank you. And let’s keep the Warmbier family and the Scalise family and all of the victims of the congressional shooting, in our hearts and prayers. And it was quite a day, and our police officers were incredible, weren’t they? They did a great job. Great job.
And let us all pray for a future of peace, unity, and safety for all of our people. [Applause] Thank you. And for Cuba.
I am so thrilled to be back here with all of my friends in Little Havana. [Laughter] I love it. I love this city. And one other big——
Audience member. We love you!
The President. Thank you. Thank you.
Now, this is an amazing community, the Cuban American community, so much love. I saw that immediately.
Audience member. We love you!
The President. Thank you, darling. Oh, do I love you too. [Laughter]
What you have built here—a vibrant culture, a thriving neighborhood, the spirit of adventure—is a testament to what a free Cuba could be. And with God’s help, a free Cuba is what we will soon achieve.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
Audience member. Donald Trump! Donald Trump!
The President. And I don’t even mind that it is 110 degrees up here. [Laughter] This room is packed. You know, it wasn’t designed for this. I’d like to thank the fire department. [Laughter] We are delighted to be joined by so many friends and leaders of our great community. I want to express our deep gratitude to a man that’s really become a friend of mine—and I want to tell you, he is one tough competitor—Senator Marco Rubio. Great guy. He is tough! Man! He is tough, and he’s good, and he loves you. He loves you.
And I listened to another friend of mine, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, and I’ll tell you, I loved what he said, and I appreciate it. Mario, I appreciated what you said so much. In fact, I was looking for Mario. I wanted to find him; they said he was onstage. I almost dragged him off the stage to thank him, but now I’m thanking you anyway. Thank you, Mario. That was great. Really appreciate it.
And I also want to thank my good friend and just a man who was of tremendous support in the State of Florida for being with us, Governor Rick Scott. Great job. He’s doing a great job. Oh, I hope he runs for the Senate. I know I’m not supposed to say that. I hope he runs for the Senate. Rick, are you running? Huh? Huh? I don’t know. Marco, let’s go, come on. We’ve got to get him to—I hope he runs for the Senate.
We’re deeply honored to be joined by amazing veterans of the Bay of Pigs. These are great people, amazing people. I have wonderful memories from our visit during the campaign. That was some visit. That was right before the election. I guess it worked, right? Boy, Florida, as a whole, and this community that supported us, like, by tremendous margins. And we appreciate it. But including one of the big honors, and that was the honor of getting the Bay of Pigs award just before the election, and it’s great to be gathered in a place named for a true hero of the Cuban people. And you know what that means.
I was also looking forward to welcoming today two people who are not present—José Daniel Ferrer and Berta Soler—[applause]—were both prevented from leaving Cuba for this event. So we acknowledge them. They’re great friends, great help. And although they could not be with us, we are with them 100 percent. Okay? We are with them. Right?
Finally, I want to recognize everyone in the audience who has their own painful but important story to tell about the true and brutal nature of the Castro regime. Brutal. We thank the dissidents, the exiles, and the children of Operation Peter Pan—you know what that means—and all who gather in the cafes, churches, and the streets in this incredible area and city to speak the truth and to stand for justice.
And we want to thank you all for being a voice for the voiceless. There are people—it’s voiceless—but you are making up the difference, and we all want to thank you. This group is amazing. Just an incredible—you are an incredible group of talented, passionate people. Thank you. Incredible group of people.
Many of you witnessed terrible crimes committed in service of a depraved ideology. You saw the dreams of generations held by captive, and just, literally, you look at what happened and what communism has done. You knew faces that disappeared, innocents locked in prisons, and believers persecuted for preaching the word of God. You watched the Women in White bruised, bloodied, and captured on their way from Mass. You have heard the chilling cries of loved ones or the cracks of firing squads piercing through the ocean breeze, not a good sound.
Among the courageous Cuban dissidents with us onstage here today are Cary Roque, who was imprisoned by the Castro regime 15 years ago. She looks awfully good.
Journalist Cary Roque. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you, Marco Rubio, Mario Diaz-Balart. Thank you to all the mainland Cubans who fight no matter what the times can be for the Cuban liberty. On behalf—Mr. President, on behalf of the Cuban people, the people inside my eyes, my homeland, thank you. Thank you, and we appreciate your love.
The President. Thank you. Wow. That’s pretty good. She didn’t know she was going to do that either, I will tell you. Thank you very much.
Antúnez, imprisoned for 17 years—where is he? I love that name. Antúnez—I love that name—[laughter]—and Ángel de Fana, imprisoned for over 20 years. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Very brave people.
The exiles and dissidents here today have witnessed communism destroy a nation, just as communism has destroyed every single nation where it has ever been tried. But we will not be silent in the face of communist oppression any longer. You have seen the truth, you have spoken the truth, and the truth has now called us—this group—called us to action. Thank you.
Last year, I promised to be a voice against repression in our region—remember, tremendous repression—and a voice for the freedom of the Cuban people. You heard that pledge. You exercised the right you have to vote. You went out, and you voted. And here I am like I promised. Like I promised. I promise you, I keep my promises. Sometimes, in politics, they take a little bit longer, but we get there. We get there. Don’t we get there? You better believe it, Mike. We get there.
Audience members. Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!
The President. [Laughter] Thank you. Thank you. No, we keep our promise. And now that I am your President, America will expose the crimes of the Castro regime and stand with the Cuban people in their struggle for freedom. Because we know it is best for America to have freedom in our hemisphere, whether in Cuba or Venezuela, and to have a future where the people of each country can live out their own dreams.
For nearly six decades, the Cuban people have suffered under communist domination. To this day, Cuba is ruled by the same people who killed tens of thousands of their own citizens, who sought to spread their repressive and failed ideology throughout our hemisphere, and who once tried to host enemy nuclear weapons 90 miles from our shores.
The Castro regime has shipped arms to North Korea and fueled chaos in Venezuela. While imprisoning innocents, it has harbored cop killers, hijackers, and terrorists. It has supported human trafficking, forced labor, and exploitation all around the globe. This is the simple truth of the Castro regime. My administration will not hide from it, excuse it, or glamorize it. And we will never, ever be blind to it. We know what’s going on, and we remember what happened.
Audience members. Trump! Trump! Trump!
The President. On my recent trip overseas, I said the United States is adopting a principled realism, rooted in our values, shared interests, and common sense. I also said countries should take greater responsibility for creating stability in their own regions. It’s hard to think of a policy that makes less sense than the prior administration’s terrible and misguided deal with the Castro regime. Well, you have to say, the Iran deal was pretty bad also, in all fairness. Let’s not forget that beauty.
They made a deal with a Government that spreads violence and instability in the region, and nothing they got—think of it, nothing they got—they fought for everything and we just didn’t fight hard enough. But now those days are over. Now we hold the cards. We now hold the cards.
The previous administration’s easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people; they only enrich the Cuban regime. The profits from investment and tourism flow directly to the military. The regime takes the money and owns the industry. The outcome of last administration’s executive action has been only more repression and a move to crush the peaceful, democratic movement. Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba.
Audience members. Trump! Trump! Trump!
The President. I am announcing today a new policy, just as I promised during the campaign, and I will be signing that contract right at that table in just a moment.
Our policy will seek a much better deal for the Cuban people and for the United States of America. We do not want U.S. dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba. Our new policy begins with strictly enforcing U.S. law. We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalized, and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled. Elections.
We will very strongly restrict American dollars flowing to the military, security, and intelligence services that are the core of the Castro regime. They will be restricted. We will enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo. We will take concrete steps to ensure that investments flow directly to the people so they can open private businesses and begin to build their country’s great, great future: a country of great potential.
My action today bypasses the military and the Government to help the Cuban people themselves form businesses and pursue much better lives. We will keep in place the safeguards to prevent Cubans from risking their lives to unlawful travel to the United States. They are in such danger the way they have to come to this country, and we are going to be safeguarding those people. We have to. We have no choice. We have to.
And we will work for the day when a new generation of leaders brings this long reign of suffering to an end. And I do believe that end is in the very near future. We challenge Cuba to come to the table with a new agreement that is in the best interests of both their people and our people and also of Cuban Americans.
To the Cuban Government, I say: Put an end to the abuse of dissidents; release the political prisoners; stop jailing innocent people; open yourselves to political and economic freedoms; return the fugitives from American justice, including the return of the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard; and finally, hand over the Cuban military criminals who shot down and killed four brave members of Brothers to the Rescue who were in unarmed, small, slow civilian planes.
Those victims included Mario de la Peña, Jr., and Carlos Costa. We are honored to be joined today by Mario’s parents Miriam and Mario and Carlos’s sister Mirta. Where are you? Huh? Those are great, great parents who love their children so much. What they’ve done is just an incredible, incredible thing. What they represent—they did not die in vain—what they represent to everybody, and especially to the Cuban people. So your children did not die in vain, believe me. So to the Castro regime, I repeat: The harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end.
Any changes to the relationship between the United States and Cuba will depend on real progress toward these and the other goals, many of which I’ve described. When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come to the table to negotiate that much better deal for Cubans, for Americans. Much better deal and a deal that’s fair. A deal that’s fair and a deal that makes sense.
Our Embassy remains open in the hope that our countries can forge a much stronger and better path. America believes that free, independent, and sovereign nations are the best vehicle for human happiness, for health, for education, for safety, for everything. We all accept that all nations have the right to chart their own paths—and I’m certainly a very big believer in that—so we will respect Cuban sovereignty. But we will never turn our backs on the Cuban people. That will not happen.
Over the years, a special sympathy has grown between this land of the free and the beautiful people of that island, so close to our shores and so deeply woven into the history of our region. America has rejected the Cuban people’s oppressors. They are rejected. Officially today, they are rejected. And to those people, America has become a source of strength, and our flag a symbol of hope.
I know that is exactly what America is to you and what it represents to you. It represents the same to me. It represents the same to all of us. And that is what it was to a little boy, Luis Haza. You ever hear of Luis? He became very famous, great talent. Just 8 years old when Fidel Castro seized power. At the time, Luis’s father was the police chief in Santiago de Cuba. You know Santiago? Yes? Oh, they know Santiago. Just days after Fidel took control, his father was one of 71 Cubans executed by firing squad near San Juan Hill at the hands of the Castro regime.
Luis buried his grief in his great love of music. He began playing the violin so brilliantly and so beautifully. Soon the regime saw his incredible gift and wanted to use him for propaganda purposes. When he was 12, they organized a national television special and demanded he play a solo for Raúl Castro, who by the way is leaving now. I wonder why.
They sent an official to fetch Luis from his home. But Luis refused to go. And a few days later, Castro’s soldiers barged into his orchestra practice area, guns blazing. They told him to play for them. Terrified, Luis began to play. And the entire room was stunned by what they heard. Ringing out from the trembling boy’s violin was a tune they all recognized. This young Cuban boy was playing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Luis played the American national anthem all the way through, and when he finished, the room was dead silent.
When we say that America stands as a symbol to the world—a symbol of freedom and a symbol of hope—that is what Luis meant, and that is what Luis displayed that day. It was a big day. It was a great day. And that is what we will all remain. That was a very important moment, just like this is now for Cuba. A very important moment. America will always stand for liberty, and America will always pray and cheer for the freedom of the Cuban people.
Now, that little boy, whose story I just told you, the one who played that violin so beautifully so many years ago, is here with us today in our very, very packed and extremely warm auditorium. [Laughter] Of course, he is no longer a little boy, but a world-renowned violinist and conductor. One of the greats. And today he will once again play his violin and fill the hearts of all who love and cherish Cuba, the United States, and freedom. I would like to now invite Luis to the stage. Luis.
[At this point, Luis Haza played “The Star-Spangled Banner” on the violin.]
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
The President. Thank you, Luis. I just said, so where were you more nervous? Today or then? He said, honestly, I think today. That’s pretty—[laughter]. Thank you, Luis, that was beautiful.
So I want to thank Miami. I want to thank Little Havana. Havana, we love. Do we love it? Would you move anywhere else? You wouldn’t move to Palm Beach, would you? No. No way. Little Havana.
And I want to thank all of our great friends here today. You’ve been amazing, loyal, beautiful people. And——
Audience member. Happy birthday!
The President. Thank you. Don’t remind me. Actually, I was telling Mike, so it was 2 days on my birthday. Until a big day, which turned out to be tomorrow—the 16th. That was the day I came down with Melania on the escalator at Trump Tower. That’s tomorrow. So it’s exactly tomorrow, 2 years since we announced. And it worked out okay. Worked out okay. It’s a great honor. Believe me, it’s a great honor. Right?
[Audience members sang “Happy Birthday.”]
The President. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I just want to end by saying may God bless everyone searching for freedom. May God bless Cuba. May God bless the United States of America. And God bless you all. Thank you. Now I’m going to sign. Thank you.
Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
[The President signed the memorandum.]
So this says, “Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba.” And I can add, “strengthening a lot.” [Laughter] So this is very important, and you watch what’s going to happen. Going to be a great day for Cuba.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 1:31 p.m. at the Manuel Artime Theater. In his remarks, he referred to Otto F. Warmbier, a University of Virginia student from Wyoming, OH, who was returned from 17 months of detention by North Korean authorities on June 13 and his parents Fred and Cindy; House Majority Whip Stephen J. Scalise, Zachary Barth, a staffer for Rep. Roger Williams, Matt Mika, Washington director of government relations for Tyson Foods, and U.S. Capitol Police Special Agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey, who were wounded in the shootings at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, VA, on June 14; Cuban political activists José Daniel Ferrer García, Berta Soler Fernández, and Jorge Luis “Antúnez” Garcia Pérez; Joanne D. Chesimard, publicly known as Assata Shakur, who on November 2, 1979, escaped from prison in Clinton, NJ, where she was serving a life sentence for murder among other charges; Mirta Mendez, the sister of Carlos Alberto Costa; and President Raúl Castro Ruz of Cuba.
Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Remarks on Signing a Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba in Miami, Florida Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project
https://www.presidency.ucsb.
Why Are Castro’s Worst Crimes Being Erased?
On 2/27/16 at 10:43 AM EST
Even before President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba next month, his administration has looked to rewrite the history of the Castros’ worst crimes. An example of this was in 2014, when the Obama administration commuted the double life sentence of Gerardo Hernández.
Hernández had been in jail for conspiracy to commit murder through his actions related to the 1996 downing of aircraft owned by the anti-Castro nonprofit “Brothers to the Rescue.” Brothers to Rescue is a Miami based organization, formed by Cuban exiles, which advocates against the Castro dictatorship.
The atrocities took place in 1996, when two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by Cuban jets over international airspace, killing four. Two more Cuban fighters chased a third Brothers to the Rescue plane to within three minutes of downtown Key West, but failed to shoot it down.
This plane returned and provided critical information on what had occurred. If it had been shot down, the Cuban government had a cover story in place to justify the shoot-down.
In order to carry out the attack, the Castro regime had a spy, who had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, initially pose as a survivor in Cuba to confirm the regime’s story. But this story imploded when the third plane made it back to Florida.
The objective of the Castro Regime was to destroy relief organization while at the same time taking attention away from a crackdown on a national opposition gathering in Cuba.
This was happening in the midst of a warming relationship that started in 1994, between the Clinton administration and Castro that included secret joint military exercises.
Hernández was set free by the Obama administration and was returned to Cuba the same day his sentence was commuted. Two days later, on December 19 2014, Obama sought to rewrite the history of the incident, stating in a press conference that “[i]t was a tragic circumstance that ended up collapsing talks that had begun to take place.”
Historical and legal records demonstrate that Obama is wrong.
The Cuban dictatorship planned the attack by using its spy networks in the U.S. to obtain information , which allowed the Castros to carry out this act of state terrorism while also carrying out an influence operation to blame the victims in the media coverage.
On August 21, 2003, a U.S. grand jury indicted the two fighter pilots and their commanding general on murder charges for the 1996 shoot-down. Indictments were returned against General Rúben Martínez Puente, who at the time headed the Cuban Air Force, and fighter pilots Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez and Francisco Pérez-Pérez.
The defendants were charged with four counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and two counts of destruction of aircraft. They are still at large.
There has been a lack of political will on behalf of the White House to pursue justice in the premeditated murders of these four men, but the indictments remain open.
Family members of the four killed (Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre) have pursued and will continue to pursue justice and have concrete results for their efforts. Unfortunately, they face an Obama administration that is trying to downplay the actions of the hostile Cuban government.
John Suarez is a human rights activist with the Cuban Democratic Directorate.
https://www.newsweek.com/
Associated Press, February 27, 1996
U.S. Says Transcripts Show That Cubans Knew Planes Were Unarmed
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ The United States released a transcript of Cuban communications today that U.S. Ambassador Madeleine Albright said showed the Cubans joyfully fired at the small planes.
“The target is in sight, the target is in sight,″ the transcript shows one of the MiG pilots radioing back to his headquarters. “It’s a small aircraft.″
“Copied. A small plane in sight,″ the ground controller responded.
A few moments later, the MiG pilot identified his target as a Cessna 337. The controller then said the pilot was “authorized to destroy.″ After firing, the pilot shouted “we took out his balls.″
“I was struck by the joy of these pilots in committing coldblooded murder,″ Albright said as she released the transcripts. “Frankly, this is not `cojones’ (testicles in Spanish). This is cowardice.″
Albright released the transcript shortly before the expected arrival of Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, who has come to present his country’s case to the United Nations.
The Cubans claim the planes violated their airspace and were part of a series of provocations by Cuban exiles in league with the U.S. government.
Before dawn today, the Security Council adopted a statement saying it “strongly deplores″ the attack Saturday, in which Cuban MiGs shot down the planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based group of Cuban exiles. The four Cuban-Americans aboard are presumed dead.
The United States originally asked the 15-member council to say it “condemns″ the attack as an unlawful use of force and a threat to international order. None of that wording made the final statement.
Cuba’s acting ambassador, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, defended the attack before the council on Monday.
“International peace and security is not what is threatened today,″ Rodriguez said.
“It is the peace, sovereignty and security of Cuba which have been endangered for more than 35 years because of … those in a position of strength who promote action against my country,″ he said.
Cuba claims the planes were shot down over its territorial waters, which the United States denies. In the past, the exile group has rescued Cuban refugees from the waters off Cuba and has dropped leaflets over Cuba criticizing Fidel Castro’s communist government.
A Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman called the resolution “a total miscarriage of justice″ that lacked “any clear condemnation of the United States as the clear originator of this sequence of events.″
U.S. officials allowed the planes to take off from Florida despite knowing they would violate Cuban airspace, the spokesman, Miguel Alfonso Martinez, said in Geneva.
The Security Council presidential statement was accepted unanimously, although without a formal vote. It carries less weight than a formal council resolution, which would have required a vote.
It cites international covenants banning the use of weapons against civilian aircraft and asks the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal to conduct an immediate investigation.
Through that request, U.S. officials hope to lay a legal foundation for any future sanctions that might be imposed against Cuba.
But council diplomats said that apart from the Americans, there was little or no support for punitive actions against Cuba.
The United States had pressed the council to act on the statement without delay.
“It is important to the United States to get action on this heinous crime, and to have the international community make clear this is a major breach of international law,″ Albright said. “It is a criminal act.″
As current holder of the rotating council presidency, Albright at one point threatened to keep the council in session until dawn, if necessary, diplomats said.
Council members beat that deadline by just three hours _ adjourning about 3:45 a.m. today.