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The statement by the president of the Cuban Aviation Club (CAC), René González Sehwerert, that the death of the child Alejandro in the Isle of Youth represented "the first fatality of the CAC in 15 years" was publicly refuted by the Facebook page "Lovers of Cuban Aviation," which documented at least four previous fatalities in Cuban air sports between 2022 and 2023.
On Monday, González intervened in the comments on the official statement from the CAC to defend the practice of tandem paragliding and the pilot involved in the accident that claimed the life of the 12-year-old boy in the Isle of Youth.
In those comments, the leader wrote: "This is the first fatality of the CAC in 15 years, during which 60,000 tandem skydives have been made, along with thousands of flights in paramotors and paragliders, including hundreds of minors."
The response came quickly.
The page "Lovers of Cuban Aviation" published a point-by-point rebuttal that dismantles that version with documented cases acknowledged by the organization that González himself oversees.
The first of the cases mentioned concerns Fabián Batista Hidalgo, a 19-year-old member of the Club Vuelo Santiago, who died in a paragliding accident in Puerto de Boniato, Santiago de Cuba, in December 2022.
In March 2023, Raidel Cobas, 33 years old, died during a parachuting exercise in Varadero and was taken to the military hospital in Matanzas, where he passed away.
Months later, in August of that same year, Miladis Ríos Góngora, a 51-year-old university professor, lost her life when her main parachute did not open correctly during a training jump. The Cuban Parachuting Federation officially reported her death.
The fourth case is that of Edelio Varona Pino, a military member of the Special Troops of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and a paragliding pilot, who died in an accident in Canasí in December 2023.
In light of this event, the Cuban Federation of Parachuting issued an official lament with a statement that directly contradicts González's words: "The community of Aerial Sports of the CAC is in mourning."
The publication that includes these details concludes with a direct criticism of the leader: "When the person making the statement is precisely the president of the Aviation Club of Cuba, one would expect rigor and memory, not a version that erases tragedies recognized by his own organization."
González, who was convicted in the United States for being part of the Red Avispa — a Cuban espionage network active in that country during the 90s — upon his return to Cuba was designated a Hero of the Republic and put in charge of the CAC. He also defended the pilot involved in Alejandro's death, arguing that "the release of the harnesses is essential to assist the passenger; otherwise, the equipment could drag both of them."
The CAC reported that a joint commission with the Civil Aeronautics Institute of Cuba would depart this Wednesday to the Isle of Youth to join the investigation into the accident that occurred on July 5, when the minor fell into the sea during a tandem paragliding flight, and his body was found more than 21 hours later.
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