Neither Brothers nor Rescue: A Confessed Terrorist and an Organization That Violated Cuban Sovereignty
- Written by Redacción ¡ahora!
- Published in Cuba
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Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, one of the Five Cuban Heroes and national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, asserted from Havana that the indictment presented this week by the U.S. Department of Justice against revolutionary leader and Army General Raúl Castro lacks any legal or moral foundation. He further warned that it could serve as a “pretext for Washington to launch a military aggression against the Caribbean island.”
Hernández Nordelo is a deputy and member of the Council of State. His compatriots consider him a Hero: he was part of a group of five agents who infiltrated anti-Cuban organizations attempting to overthrow the Havana government. For years, they monitored these groups to inform Cuba of their terrorist plans until their arrest in September 1998. He spent 16 years in U.S. prisons and returned to Cuba through a prisoner exchange organized by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz—who led the country between 2008 and 2018—and the Barack Obama administration.
His deep knowledge of the organization Brothers to the Rescue and its founder, José Basulto, allows him to address the events of February 24, 1996, with rigor. On that day, two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by Cuban fighters after repeatedly violating the island’s sovereign airspace and “having been warned of the danger that such actions implied.”
This Wednesday, May 20, the U.S. Department of Justice accused General Raúl Castro Ruz of the downing of those aircraft. Three decades later, Hernández Nordelo reveals to Jorge Gestoso of teleSUR the historical truth that the U.S. attempts to silence, dismantles myths, and holds the White House responsible for this incident.
Hernández Nordelo asserted that the leader of Brothers to the Rescue, José Basulto, has an extensive history of terrorism and was trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is an individual who “has never been ashamed of his terrorist past,” the interviewee explained, detailing that the CIA prepared him to infiltrate Cuba to commit sabotage during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961.
In statements to teleSUR, Hernández Nordelo dismantled numerous myths surrounding the February 24, 1996, incident. He noted that the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued warnings on 25 occasions regarding the danger posed by these flights and requested that U.S. authorities revoke the pilots’ licenses. “Cuba’s request fell on deaf ears.”
He explained that Basulto founded the group to rescue "balseros" (rafters) in the early 90s, but the mission shifted in 1995 following new migration agreements between Havana and the Clinton administration. As donations dwindled, Basulto conceived a “new tactic: to begin penetrating Cuban territory with the planes.” He would carry journalists from Miami stations, violate Cuban airspace, and fly over Havana dropping propaganda leaflets and other objects.
Regarding the day of the shootdown, Hernández Nordelo clarified that Basulto was not on a rescue mission but was leading a provocation in support of opposition groups. He emphasized that Cuba had activated a military zone below the 24th parallel and warned Basulto of the risk. Basulto replied: “I know, but we are free Cubans and we are willing to take the risk.”
Ultimately, Hernández Nordelo described the indictment of Raúl Castro as a “dangerous and poorly calculated move by the empire.” He argued that the U.S. is using the case to distract from internal political scandals and to court votes in Florida, but warned that “the accusation could be the justification for a military aggression against Cuba.” (taken from: Cubasi.cu)
