SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The Cuban regime military pilotLuis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez arrived in the United States a few months ago thanks to humanitarian parole, as he was able to independently confirm CubaNet.
Retired with degrees of colonelGonzález-Pardo was part of the Anti-Air Defense and Revolutionary Air Force (DAAFAR). The news of his arrival, initially given on the YouTube channel “Darwin’s World”was also ratified by the former Cuban pilot Orestes Lorenzo Perezfriend and comrade-in-arms in Cuba of Luis González-Pardo.
“Pardo has been living in the United States for several months. We have spoken on the phone a few times, and I have not been able to see him even though I have tried,” wrote Lorenzo Pérez.
The former soldier explained that their friendship dates back to 1977, when they both went to study in the Soviet Union to become fighter pilots.
González-Pardo previously visited the United States in 2017 and has been residing permanently in that country for two months.
Lorenzo Pérez, who in 1991, as a major in the Cuban Air Force, headed north in his MiG 23BN and arrived in the United States – and returned to Cuba in a Cessna in 1992 to look for his family, without being spotted – said that during the events of February 24, 1996, when two planes from the Brothers to the Rescue organization were shot down by Cuban pilots, Pardo had been in command of a MiG-29 that took off that day with the mission of intercepting the flights.
To the list of repressors
Following orders from the Armed Forces, commanded by Raúl Castro, Pardo closely followed the flight of the Brothers to the Rescue. However, according to Lorenzo Pérez, there is no confirmation that he fired on the aircraft that were in international waters.
“The ICAO report showed that Pardo had followed Basulto to a point further north of the 24th parallel. This fact in itself may fit with the principle of following orders, such as the interception instructions he received by radio, but it does not prove his determination to shoot and kill Basulto,” Lorenzo Pérez explained in his publication.
“Basulto flew his plane over the capital (a thousand times more protected than the road where I landed for Vicky and the children), dropped pamphlets and returned to Miami without being intercepted. Not a single bullet was fired at him,” he said.
For his participation in the events of February 1996, Pardo was placed on the list of Cuban Repressors.
“DAAFAR Lieutenant Colonel Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez was pursuing the third plane belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue (HAR) organization, manned by José Basulto, Arnaldo Iglesias, and Sylvia and Andrés Iriondo, in order to shoot it down with his MiG-29A 911, after two others were destroyed in flight,” the project of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba stated on its website.
The tragedy of Brothers to the Rescue
The humanitarian organization, created in 1991 in Miamiby the Cuban-American Jose Basultowas made up of civilian pilots whose mission was to monitor the Straits of Florida with the aim of detecting Cuban rafters emigrating from the Island in fragile vessels, and assisting them on the high seas if necessary.
In February 1996, after being hit by missiles fired by Cuban Air Force fighter planes, which destroyed their aircraft in mid-flight, aviators Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales died.
A third plane, Seagull One, was able to escape an aerial chase that lasted more than an hour. José Basulto himself, Arnaldo Iglesias and Andrés and Silvia Iriondo survived, whose testimonies were extremely useful in the reconstruction of the events.
The dictatorship has always defended itself with the argument that the downing of the planes occurred within Cuban airspace; but even so, the incident was repudiated by the European Union, the United Nations Security Council and other international organizations.
A thorough investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that the two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down in international waters and that the Cuban authorities violated the established warning protocols. The intention, from the beginning, was to shoot down the planes.
This was acknowledged by Raúl Castro, who is responsible for the crime as head of the Armed Forces. a recording Posted by The New Herald In 2006, the general confessed that he had given precise instructions for the planes to be destroyed.
Since the tragedy occurred, both the victims’ families and the Cuban community in exile have demanded that those responsible be brought to justice. The crime remains unpunished, like so many others committed by the Castro regime.
