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The Attorney General of Florida, James Uthmeier, confirmed last Wednesday that the investigation to prosecute Raúl Castro for the shooting down of the Hermanos al Rescate planes is progressing and is a joint effort between the state attorney's office and the federal attorney's office for Southern Florida, as reported by Telemundo.
We will leave no detail unexplored, declared Uthmeier during a visit to Miami, over a month after formally reopening the case on March 4.
"We are working hand in hand with the federal prosecutor's office here in South Florida. It is a priority because there are victims of Castro, and justice must be served," the prosecutor added.
The central element of the investigation is a recording from June 21, 1996 in which Raúl Castro, during a meeting with five generals at the headquarters of the Communist Party in Holguín, acknowledged having given the order to shoot down the planes, describing the attack as a "rocket strike" that would turn them into "a ball of fire."
The recording, lasting 11 minutes and 32 seconds, was revealed in 2006 and is in the possession of the U.S. federal prosecutor's office.
The downing occurred on February 24, 1996, when Cuban MiG fighters destroyed two small aircraft belonging to the humanitarian organization in international waters of the Florida Straits, killing four Cuban-Americans: Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., and Pablo Morales, whose bodies were never recovered.
Uthmeier acknowledged that he cannot disclose further details and clarified Florida's position regarding Washington: "We are not going to interfere in their diplomatic goals, but we have sole authority here in Florida".
Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, from the Assembly of the Resistance, highlighted that the revelation of the joint nature of the investigation is the most significant advance so far: "I believe the most important announcement is that it is a federal and state joint investigation. We didn't know that until now".
In 2003, the federal prosecutor in South Florida charged a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and two pilots for the events, but the case remained stalled and was closed during the Biden administration.
Declassified FBI documents —more than 10,000 pages— reveal the so-called "Operation Venice", planned since February 13, 1996, by Cuban intelligence to bring down the planes, which reinforces the theory of premeditation.
The researcher Juan Antonio Blanco, from Cuba Siglo 21, warned that the scope of the case could go further: "I have the impression that this case is not going to stop here, but may possibly include the other file that was sealed due to drug trafficking in 1989".
Blanco also emphasized the strategic dimension of the process: "Evidently, it is a political lever, because they can carry it out."
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