The military pilot of the Cuban regime, Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, allegedly involved in the shooting down of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue, is reportedly residing in the United States thanks to the humanitarian parole implemented by the administration of President Joe Biden.
A source close to the ex-military, who requested to remain anonymous, confirmed to the Cuban YouTuber Darwin Santana that González-Pardo had been in the United States for about two months. Florida media echoed the influencer's livestream through his channel El mundo de Darwin.
Retired with the rank of colonel, González-Pardo was part of the Anti-Air Defense and Revolutionary Air Force (DAAFAR) and participated in the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, an incident in which the Cuban-American pilots, Mario Manuel de la Peña (24 years old), Armando Alejandre (45), Carlos Costa (29), and the Cuban resident Pablo Morales (29) lost their lives.
The alleged arrival in the United States as a beneficiary of the humanitarian parole program of one of those involved in that crime occurs right at a moment when the Cuban exile community in that country and Cuban-American congress members have raised concerns about the growing number of repressors and leaders of the Cuban regime who are arriving or residing in U.S. territory.
Retired Colonel González-Pardo would be residing in Jacksonville, Florida, where his daughter also lives. According to Martí Noticias, his wife is still in Cuba waiting for her visa to join him.
Known by the nickname "El Bemba" in military circles, González-Pardo is said to have participated in the operation to shoot down aircraft belonging to the Cuban exile organization.
Although he may not have been directly responsible for the missile shots that shot down the two planes on February 24, 1996, the pilot would have taken off that day and pursued the third aircraft, piloted by the organization's leader José Basulto and Arnaldo Iglesias, which also had the leader of the M.A.R organization, Silvia Iriondo, and her husband Andrés, who managed to escape.
According to the cited media, González-Pardo was one of the pilots of the MiG-29A 911 that pursued Basulto's plane along with the other pilot of the Cuban regime, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas. This was pointed out by Luis Domínguez from the Cuban Human Rights Foundation.
Social media posts could reveal his loyalty to the regime of the former military official, even after his alleged residence in the United States. After his retirement, González-Pardo held important positions in Cuban civil aviation, including the position of deputy chief of Terminal 4 at José Martí International Airport in Havana, also known as the International Cargo Terminal, operated in collaboration between Cuban and Spanish companies.
The revelation of the González-Pardo case was confirmed by the well-known exiled Cuban pilot, Orestes Lorenzo Pérez, a former member of the Cuban Armed Forces who clandestinely traveled to Cuba in 1992 to rescue his wife and children, a feat that was dubbed the "flight of love."
"Pardo has been living in the United States for several months. We have spoken on the phone a few times, and I have not been able to see him although I have tried," acknowledged the famous Cuban exile and defector. However, in an extensive post on Facebook, he criticized the lack of objectivity of the original source of the news, gave the benefit of the doubt to González-Pardo, and denied that he - whom he considers "a friend" since their studies in the former Soviet Union - was involved in the crime committed against civilian victims.
"I am not, I refuse to be like the criminal band that governs Cuba, I would like all Cubans to be. Friendship above all entails loyalty. And a friend will always be my friend until it is proven that he is not the man or woman I credited him to be. Pardo did not kill anyone, as this gentleman infamously accuses him in a public medium. And before me, he will always enjoy the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise," asserted Lorenzo Pérez in his publication.
Despite this profession of faith in friendship, Lorenzo Pérez recounted a striking anecdote about González-Pardo, who had previously visited the United States and had met with the exile.
“I told Pardo that I would not rest until I saw the Pérez brothers in front of a court to answer for the murder of the pilots of Hermanos al Rescate. Then Pardo replied that he disagreed with me because they were just following orders. His response puzzled me because I did not expect such a cold judgment from him. I simply told him that a soldier's duty is to defend the country against an external and armed aggressor, not against unarmed planes flying in international waters. That it had been a political and calculated crime that a soldier of honor would never agree to commit, no matter where the orders came from,” he recounted.
According to Lorenzo Pérez, “that exchange did not end our friendship, but it definitely marked a before and after. From the confidence I had in his integrity, I henceforth granted him only the benefit of the doubt that every person deserves until proven guilty.”
"I have long had the intention of discussing with him the details of what happened that day, looking him in the eye and reading the sincerity or lack thereof in what he tells me. While the intention or disposition to commit a crime that is not carried out cannot be punished under written law, it can be under the moral law that upholds friendship. Our future friendship will depend on that conversation with Pardo that has not been able to take place. It is a matter between him and me," he added.
According to the independent media Periódico Cubano, three sisters of González-Pardo already reside in the United States, two of whom worked in the Ministry of the Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR).
The retired colonel also participated in military missions in Africa and Latin America and was decorated by the dictator Fidel Castro himself after a mission in which he saved a MiG-29, disobeying orders to eject from the aircraft, which resulted in considerable injuries.
González-Pardo now lives in the United States, where, according to reports, he has already started working at a bakery in Jacksonville.
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