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The former Cuban military pilot Luis Raúl González Pardo, the only suspect in the case of the downing of the planes belonging to Hermanos al Rescate, who is currently in U.S. custody, will be transferred to Miami in the coming weeks to face charges for his alleged involvement in the crime.
In an exclusive interview with Telemundo 51, prosecutor Yara Klukas —second in command of the federal prosecutor's office for the Southern District of Florida—confirmed this Friday that González Pardo will return to the defendant's stand for the events that took place on February 24, 1996.
"Since he has finished with that case, he is now being transferred to Miami to face this trial. The trial is already starting," Klukas stated, referring to the previous case which resulted in a recent seven-month prison sentence for the former lieutenant colonel of the Cuban Air Force.
González Pardo was sentenced last Wednesday in a federal court in Jacksonville for immigration fraud, having concealed his military history when applying for immigration benefits after entering the U.S. with humanitarian parole in April 2024.
Since the sentence is calculated from his arrest in November 2025, the time already served practically covers the entire penalty, clearing the way for his immediate transfer to the trial for the downing of the civilian aircraft of the organization Brothers to the Rescue.
González Pardo is one of the six individuals indicted in an expanded federal indictment approved by a grand jury on April 23, 2026, and made public on May 20.
The charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder for the deaths of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, the four members of the organization who were killed when Cuban MiG fighters shot down two Cessna 337 aircraft over international waters in the Florida Straits.
The other defendants are Raúl Castro —who was the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in 1996— and co-defendants Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, and Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, all beyond the immediate reach of U.S. justice.
Klukas explained that the arrest of González Pardo was the turning point that reignited the entire investigation: "When we managed to have a pilot on this side, new investigations started, and that paved the way."
The prosecutor pointed out that when the federal prosecutor Jason Reding Quiñones took office and requested all cases related to Cuba, he found that previous investigations had been closed or lacked leads, and that it was the Trump administration that made the case a priority.
Regarding Raúl Castro, Klukas was emphatic: "Raúl Castro is a fugitive because he has not appeared in court. Since last Wednesday, there has been an arrest warrant against him and the other pilots, and to date, he has not shown up."
The prosecutor also dismissed the statements from the Cuban regime, which describes the process as "a farce," and responded to Mariela Castro —who claimed that her father "will not be kidnapped"— with a direct warning: "Time will tell how this situation will end, but we have seen examples from other times... The Maduro plan demonstrated that it is possible."
Klukas also confirmed the creation of a working group dedicated exclusively to investigations about Cuba and did not rule out future charges against other figures in the regime: "We have many investigations related to this issue."
Regarding a possible reward for the arrest of Raúl Castro, Klukas indicated that such a decision would fall to President Trump or Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
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