The Nation - News from Jan. 23, 1989
About 15,000 relatives, friends and Air Force officials flocked to the small, mountainous town of Utuado, Puerto Rico, for the funeral of the Puerto Rican pilot whose plane was shot down during a U.S. raid on Libya. The remains of Air Force Maj. Fernando Ribas-Dominicci, 33, were returned by Libya last week, three years after the downing of the plane. During the half-hour ceremony at the hillside San Andres de Utuado cemetery, four F-111 jet-fighters, the type Ribas-Dominicci piloted, flew over the small town, about 35 miles west of San Juan. The airman’s wife, Blanca Berain, held their 7-year-old son’s hand and wept as the planes flew in a “missing pilot” formation.
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