110 HRES 995 IH: Commemorating the 12th anniversary of the U.S. House of Representatives 2008-02-25 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 995 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 25, 2008 Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida (for himself, Mr. Sires, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. Mack, Mr. Fortuño, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Klein of Florida, Mr. Engel, Mr. Mica, Mr. Wexler, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. McCotter, Mr. King of Iowa, Mrs. Schmidt, Mr. Broun of Georgia, Mr. Garrett of New Jersey, Mr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, Mr. Buchanan, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, and Mr. Boyd of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Commemorating the 12th anniversary of the 1996 shooting down of 2 unarmed Brothers to the Rescue civilian aircraft, licensed by the United States, by the Cuban regime.

Whereas, on February 24, 1996, while conducting a humanitarian search and rescue mission in the Florida Straits, 2 unarmed civilian aircrafts belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, licensed by the United States, were shot down by 2 Cuban Air Force war planes; Whereas this attack resulted in the deaths of Vietnam War veteran Armando Alejandre, Jr., a corporal in the United States Marine Corps; United States citizens Mario de la Peña and Carlos Costa; and legal United States resident Pablo Morales; Whereas the planes were shot down with no prior warning or adherence to the protocol established by international law with regard to unarmed civilian planes; Whereas eyewitness reports and later investigations made it clear the unarmed planes were shot down in international airspace; Whereas the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights, the European Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States condemned this act of terrorism by the Cuban regime; and Whereas February 24, 2008 marks the 12th anniversary of this criminal attack: Now, therefore, be it

That the House of Representatives— (1)commemorating the 12th anniversary of the shoot down; (2)condemns the shooting down of the 2 unarmed civilian aircrafts flown by Brothers to the Rescue and the murders of Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, and Pablo Morales; and (3)recognizes the efforts of those working to bring international attention to this tragedy.