Hundreds March In Little Havana To Honor Brothers To The Rescue Pilots
MIAMI (CBS4) -Some 1,500 people marched down Southwest 8th Street Thursday afternoon on this 15th anniversary of the downing of two Brothers to the Rescue planes off Cuba, a tragedy that took four lives.
Mario de la Pena told CBS4's Peter D'Oench that he was demonstrating with a passion and a purpose because he wanted to keep his son's memory alive.
Mario de la Pena Jr. was one of the four who died, along with Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales.
Cuban military planes shot them down after they had been dropping pro-democracy leaflets over Cuba. Cuba had sent out warnings about flying over Cuban air space but the pilots were not over Cuban air space when they were shot down.
"My son, he meant everything to our family," said Mario de la Pena. "He was so young and such a good person. Justice, that's what we want. Justice for all of the Cuban people and we should never forget what happened. Never. I want people to remember what Castro's planes did. There was no reason to take their lives this way. There was no reason at all."
De la Pena lead the procession down SW 8th St. from 13th Ave. to 4th Ave. where a rally took place. Also at the head of the march was de la Pena's aunt, Nila Perez.
"I have been keeping this memory for 15 years," Perez told D'Oench, while holding up a poster with her nephew's photo on it. "This is something that we have to remember, and remember well. This man and three others are in the sea and this was a terrible act by Cuba. There has to be justice. There must be. I will never ever forget. He had such a bright future and was a good human being."
Hundreds of spectators lined Southwest 8th St.
Julio Pena was one of them. His mother and father came here from Cuba in 1962. He was born two years later. He took the day off from work to watch the parade.
"This is something that has to be honored," said Pena. "These were pilots from Brothers to the Rescue who were devoted to rescuing Cubans who fled their country by boat and got stranded. And there was no reason to shoot them down outside Cuban air space."
"This is an importantly day," said spectator Lina Rubi, who came to the U.S. in 1961. "We have to remember them, forever."
The demonstration that started at 3 p.m. ended just after 5 p.m. It happened one day after the one-year anniversary of the death of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Tamayo, who died after an 83-day hunger strike. He was imprisoned for disrespecting authority.
