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The Assault Brigade 2506 issued a solemn statement this Wednesday, on the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Cuba, in which it described the formal accusation by the United States Department of Justice against Raúl Castro as "only the first step" toward justice, and demanded a complete change of the communist regime on the island.
The event was held at the organization's headquarters in Miami, where historical leaders of the Cuban exile community supported the accusation filed that same day by the Department of Justice against Castro and five Cuban military officials for the downing of the aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, reported Martí Noticias.
In its statement from May 20, Brigade 2506 was emphatic: "The people of Cuba are currently experiencing one of the most painful and desperate stages in their history. The misery, the lack of food and medicine, the constant blackouts, political repression, and the total absence of freedoms demonstrate, once again, the absolute failure of the communist system established by the Castro dictatorship."
The organization rejected any solution that does not involve a complete break with the current system: "The national crisis that Cuba is experiencing cannot be resolved with cosmetic reforms, false openings, or successions controlled by the same regime. The future of Cuba demands a total, definitive, and urgent change."
The Brigade called for a transition based on the Helms-Burton Act and the Cuban Constitution of 1940, and denounced the presence of espionage bases from China, Russia, Iran, and narco-terrorist organizations in Cuba as a direct threat to hemispheric security.
The call was direct to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio: to continue supporting the Cuban people in their fight for democracy and human rights.
Among the attendees at the event was the former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner, who commented on the charges against Raúl Castro on seven counts, including four for homicide: "At least, finally, after so much time, we are at the beginning of justice for the families of the Brothers to the Rescue."
Luis González Vega, from Municipios de Cuba en el Exilio, described the accusation as a leverage: "It's a card that the United States now holds against Cuba, using what is justice against that villain who was Raúl Castro, who gave the order for the assassination of the four young men from Hermanos al Rescate."
Fernando Caula, president of the Cuban People's Orthodox Party, warned that the responsibility goes beyond a single name: "It's not just Raúl Castro; there are many names in the government of this terrorist narco-republic of Cuba that have affected all Cubans in exile for more than 67 years."
The Cuban regime, for its part, rejected the accusation from the Department of Justice, calling it a "political action without legal foundation," while Díaz-Canel stood in defense of Raúl Castro and justified the downing of the aircraft.
Given that there is no extradition treaty between Cuba and the United States and Castro, at 94 years old, has never set foot on U.S. soil, the accusation mainly holds symbolic, political, and legal value for the families of the victims and the Cuban exile community.
Brigade 2506 concluded its statement with a warning that summarizes decades of struggle: "There will be no true peace in Cuba and in the Hemisphere as long as there is a dictatorship at the heart of the Americas that denies freedom to the Cuban people and threatens the peace and security of its neighbors. We will never abandon our homeland!"
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