[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1257]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PREVENT FUTURE TRAGEDIES OF SHOT DOWN AIRCRAFT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from New York [Mr. Serrano] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, I first want to join all Americans in 
expressing my condolences and pain to the families of the pilots who 
were shot by the Cuban Air Force. This is a tragedy and we should all 
deeply regret the death of these pilots.
  I also believe that the Cuban Government should have dealt with this 
situation in a different way. The planes, if need be, could have been 
grounded and not destroyed.
  My purpose in speaking on this floor today, Mr. Speaker, is to try to 
reach a point of understanding where we can prevent these tragic issues 
from taking place in the future and to prevent what I believe is a 
confrontation that may be coming between the Cuban Government and our 
Government, perhaps a violent confrontation. The question that needs to 
be asked is what did our Government know about prior flights by 
Brothers to the Rescue into Cuban airspace and what did our Government 
do with this knowledge?
  I have the statement, which is public by now, by the Cuban Government 
that shows in order the documentation of violations of Cuban airspace 
by planes registered in the United States from May 1994 to the present. 
In 1994 there was a violation almost every month and similar in 1995. 
There have been documented press reports about the dropping of anti-
Castro leaflets over Cuba by planes registered in the United States.
  On the 15th of this year, the French press agency reported that the 
Cuban Government complained that its airspace had been violated by 
United States-based planes which dropped anti-Castro leaflets over 
Cuba. In this same article it mentions that the Miami-based group 
Brothers to the Rescue issued a statement saying that it had dropped 
half a million leaflets printed over Cuba with messages against the 
Castro government. Both of these actions, of dropping leaflets and in 
some instances buzzing buildings in Havana, were known to our 
Government. In fact, the White House acknowledged the incident and 
expressed regret about it, but it is unclear what additional actions 
were taken. Did our Government take action?
  This morning I had a conversation with the counsel's office at the 
Federal Aviation Administration. They confirmed that they had 
recommended the pilot license suspension of the leader and founder of 
the group Brothers to the Rescue. I am not clear whether this gentleman 
flew on this last mission with a license or without a license, but it 
was based on our understanding at the FAA that this group had in fact 
violated Cuban airspace at least on that last occasion, July 13, when 
they went over Havana.
  The death of these pilots is an unfortunate tragic incident that 
could have been, in my opinion, prevented. We need to find out exactly 
what happened and how much of the responsibility our own Government 
bears for this incident. We need answers to prevent a similar tragedy 
from happening in the future.
  Not long ago, we negotiated with the Castro government over the 
people that were coming over on rafts and came up with an immigration 
policy. Why not call the Castro government to the table now and hear 
their gripes about their airspace, present to them our feelings about 
the issue and try to at the minimum reach an agreement on this 
particular issue?
  All of my colleagues know my position on our whole relationship with 
Cuba. I am in favor of lifting the embargo and normalizing relations. 
But I realize that this is not the time for that because once again, 
either through provocation or by accident, the Castro issue has been 
placed on the front burner, and Castro once again becomes the enemy we 
most love to hate. But we can negotiate and prevent this in the future.

  When the President yesterday said no more flights to Cuba from the 
United States, I ask sincerely, not sarcastically, was he also talking 
about illegal flights that leave Miami and go to Cuba and run around 
their airspace or just the legal flights that we now have?
  We will now support and take great joy in the fact that the United 
Nations condemned Cuba. But please understand that that does nothing to 
better the relationship between the two countries or to head off a 
confrontation. For years the United Nations has been condemning us for 
our embargo on Cuba, and it has not changed our policy toward the 
island.
  I will do something today that is not part of being a good Democrat, 
I guess, and that is to ask the Republican leadership to conduct a 
congressional investigation into how much our Government knew about 
these incidents and the violation of Cuban airspace so that in the 
future we can prevent this confrontation and this loss of human life.

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