Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart | Official U.S. House headshot
Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart | Official U.S. House headshot
U.S. Representatives Mario Díaz-Balart (FL-26), María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Carlos A. Giménez (FL-28), and Alex Mooney (WV-2) have expressed significant concerns in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The lawmakers are troubled by reports that a high-ranking Cuban official, allegedly involved in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, was recently granted entry into the United States.
The letter states: "As Members of Congress with constituents directly impacted by the brutality of the Castro regime, we write with profound concern regarding reports that a high-level operative in the Cuban dictatorship who is alleged to have participated in the heinous murder of Americans was recently admitted into the United States."
According to various press reports, Cuban Lieutenant Colonel Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez entered the U.S. within recent weeks. Additional sources and survivor letters suggest that González-Pardo was involved in the 1996 shootdown, which resulted in the deaths of three American citizens—Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, Armando Alejandre—and one legal permanent resident, Pablo Morales. These individuals were part of Brothers to the Rescue, an organization dedicated to rescuing refugees fleeing Cuba by sea.
The letter continues: "As both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) affirmed after the attack, these civilian, unarmed Cessnas were shot down by MiGs in international waters. This was a flagrant violation of international law."
The representatives criticize past actions by previous administrations: "It was an insult to them and a disgraceful travesty of justice that the Obama Administration released the one person who had been held accountable for their murders, Gerardo Hernandez, in a concession to the regime in Cuba."
They also call for further investigation: "The remaining survivors of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown have demanded an investigation into the vetting process that allowed González-Pardo into the United States, and whether he lied on his forms. We reiterate their call and are deeply concerned about the seeming influx of high-level Cuban Communist Party operatives into the United States."
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