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The former National Security Advisor of the United States, John Bolton, recalled the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 when referring to the recent armed confrontation between a boat coming from Florida and Cuban Border Guard troops off the coast of Villa Clara.
In an interview with NewsNation, Bolton pointed out that the incident occurs 30 years after the Cuban regime shot down the civilian aircraft of the exile organization that was searching for rafters in the Florida Strait.
"It's astonishing," he stated, recalling that on February 24, 1996, Cuban warplanes destroyed two Cessna belonging to Brothers to the Rescue. That day, four people died: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, and Mario de la Peña, all U.S. citizens, and Pablo Morales, a permanent resident in the United States.
Exactly 30 years have passed. At such a significant moment, on February 25, 2026, an armed confrontation took place in Cuban waters.
The shooting involved a group of Cuban border guards and a boat from Florida, FL7726SH, off the coast of Villa Clara. Coincidentally, four people also died: Pavel Alling Peña, Michael Ortega Casanova, Ledián Padrón Guevara, and Héctor Duani Cruz Correa.
Bolton indicated that it is still too early to know all the details of the recent case, but emphasized the historical significance of the precedent.
“Whether this ship, this flotilla, as referred to by the New York Times, was part of an effort by Hermanos al Rescate or not, we do not know,” he said, alluding to initial reports suggesting that the vessel might have been connected to an attempt to evacuate people from Cuba.
"There are people who are observing the desperate conditions of the Cuban economy while oil is being cut off from Venezuela. If they are trying to leave, we don't know. But I will tell you something that is absolutely astonishing. If this is true, it is a terrible mistake on the part of the U.S. government," he stated.
The error he's referring to is Donald Trump's easing of restrictions on oil sales to the private sector in the island, an action that Bolton believes would give new life to the regime because: "Let’s be clear, there is no private sector in Cuba that buys oil unless it does so through the government."
The 1996 precedent and the demand for accountability
On February 24, 1996, the planes were shot down by Cuban missiles in what was determined to be international airspace.
On February 13, 2026, Congress members Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar, Carlos A. Giménez, and Nicole Malliotakis sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting that the Department of Justice consider bringing Raúl Castro, who was then the Minister of the Armed Forces, to court.
Castro admitted to having given the order to "take them down." Thirty years later, the case is back in the political debate in Washington, amid new tensions between both countries, calls to reopen the judicial avenue against those responsible, and now with a new violent episode in Cuban territorial waters.
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