Memorials Honor 4 Fliers Shot Down by Cuban Fighters
Cuban Americans dropped flowers in the sea off Cuba on Monday to remember four fliers from a Miami-based exile group who were killed when Cuban MiGs shot down their planes a year ago.
About 500 people gathered at the Opa-Locka Airport near Miami for the memorial to the members of Brothers to the Rescue, which was formed to search for boaters in the 90 miles of open water between Cuba and Florida.
More than a dozen planes flew from Miami to the site in international waters north of Havana where the group’s two Cessnas were downed on Feb. 24, 1996.
Warned by both Washington and Havana not to provoke another incident, they tossed wreaths and flowers into the waters of the Florida Strait and then turned back safely to fly home.
In a statement released by the White House and read at the memorial, President Clinton said the downing of the planes and the continuing repression in Cuba illustrate “the need to continue working for a peaceful transition to democracy in Cuba.”
At a ceremony at Miami’s Liberty Monument, people fell silent for seven minutes at 3:21 p.m. EST, the time the rocket attack began last year. They listened to a taped tribute to the fliers.
Havana said the planes were shot down because they violated Cuban airspace. Cuban exiles and the United States said the incident happened over international waters.
The attack helped lead to passage of tough new U.S. trade restrictions against countries that do business with Cuba.
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