A retired Cuban Air Force pilot traveled between Cuba and Florida for nearly ten years, entering the United States without disclosing his military history. He was arrested in November and accused of failing to mention on U.S. immigration forms that he had served in the Cuban Air Force for nearly 30 years. He pleaded guilty in January to immigration fraud charges and was scheduled for sentencing in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida, with a maximum potential sentence of 10 years. In addition, he was named as a defendant in a federal indictment involving former Cuban President Raul Castro and four other Air Force members. The indictment charges conspiracy to commit murder in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue incident, when Cuban fighter jets shot down two civilian planes over international airspace, killing three Americans and a U.S. resident of Cuban descent.
"For almost 10 years, a retired Cuban Air Force pilot, Lt. Col Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo, traveled between Cuba and Florida, entering the United States without disclosing his military history and going unnoticed. That was until his arrest in November, when he was accused of failing to mention on U.S. immigration forms that he had been a member of the Cuban Air Force for nearly 30 years. He pleaded guilty in January to immigration fraud charges and was scheduled to be sentenced on May 28 in federal court in Jacksonville, Fla."
"Mr. Gonzalez-Pardo, 65, who is jailed, could receive a maximum sentence of 10 years. On Wednesday, Mr. Gonzalez-Pardo faced even more serious charges when he was named as a defendant in a federal indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro and four other members of the Cuban Air Force. All are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in a notorious case involving the killing of three Americans and a U.S. resident, all of Cuban descent, who were members of Brothers to the Rescue."
"All four died in February 1996 when Cuban fighter jets shot down two civilian planes operated by the group over international airspace in the Straits of Florida. A third plane escaped and landed safely in Miami."
#immigration-fraud #cuban-air-force #conspiracy-to-commit-murder #brothers-to-the-rescue #us-federal-indictment
Read at www.nytimes.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]