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A tape preserved for three decades in the personal archive of former pilot Reinaldo Martín reveals, for the first time, the voices and panic within the cockpit of the only plane from Hermanos al Rescate that managed to return to Florida on February 24, 1996, the day when MiG jets from the Cuban Air Force destroyed two civilian aircraft over international waters of the Florida Straits.
CNN gained exclusive access to that material and released the recording this week.
The cassette, recorded from the cockpit of the plane piloted by José Basulto -whose call sign was Gaviota 1-, captures the communications between the three aircraft flying that day and the moment when their crews realized they were being attacked.
In the audio, the voices of Carlos Costa as Gaviota Charlie are identified, piloting a second airplane alongside Pablo Morales, and that of Mario Manuel de la Peña as Gaviota Mike, with Armando Alejandre Jr. on board.
The microphone connected to Basulto's headphones captures the confusion and panic: "They are going to shoot us down," the pilot can be heard warning. Then comes the silence. Basulto calls for "Charlie" and "Mike," but neither responds.
"We are next," warns Basulto. "The other one destroyed. The other one destroyed," is heard afterward.
«Both have fallen. Both planes have been brought down,» explains Martín during the CNN report while showing the cassette. «This is gold,» he declares as he presents the recording. «You get goosebumps hearing this,» he confesses while listening to it.
Sylvia Iriondo, who was traveling as a passenger on Basulto's plane during its first flight with the group and survived because that aircraft managed to escape, listened to the recording for the first time in front of the CNN cameras.
"It's the first time I hear the recording of Basulto saying that we are next, that they are going to shoot us," she declared. For her, what happened is clear cut: "They fired on unarmed and defenseless civilian planes in international airspace."
The four victims were Costa, a veteran of the Marine Corps; De la Peña, 24 years old; Alejandre Jr., born in New Jersey and a family man; and Morales, a former balsero who had previously been rescued by the organization itself. Three were U.S. citizens and the fourth was a legal resident. Their bodies were never recovered.
The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that both aircraft were destroyed outside Cuban airspace: the first about 18 miles from the coast and the second more than 30 miles away, while the Cuban territorial limit was 12 miles.
The report from CNN is presented in the context of the formal charges brought in May by the United States Department of Justice against Raúl Castro -who was Minister of Defense in 1996- and five Cuban military personnel for conspiracy to assassinate U.S. citizens, destruction of aircraft, and four individual counts of murder.
Castro, at 95 years old, is considered a fugitive from U.S. justice. The only accused in custody is retired Lieutenant Colonel Luis Raúl González-Pardo, who was taken to Miami on June 9, 2026, to face the charges.
In a recording published in 2006 by journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla in El Nuevo Herald, Raúl Castro acknowledged having given the order before the attack: "Take them down in the sea" when they appear; and do not consult those who have the authority.
For Mirta Méndez, a relative of one of the victims, the accusation cannot become a symbolic gesture. "We cannot have an accusation that remains tucked away in a drawer," she stated to CNN.
Regarding the possibility of Castro appearing before the court at the age of 95, she was unequivocal: "It doesn't matter. He is still active and giving orders. So if he can't walk, he can be in a wheelchair; if he can't sit, he can be on a stretcher."
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