Downtown Miami shook at 3:21p.m. It was a huge boom and came without warning.
Jose Basulto had permission from officials at Miami-Dade College to fire two small cannons to send a message to federal prosecutors. The Federal building across from the campus houses the offices of the U.S. Attorney.
Then, a second cannon blast went off at 3:28. It was an even bigger boom.
But this wasn't just any noise. The timing of the cannon shots signified the exact time Cuban Migs took down two American registered twin engine aircraft.
Basulto had large signs prepared. Visible from the prosecutors office the message was simple: "Indict Raul and Fidel Castro."
Fidel Castro admitted that he ordered the shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas on July 24, 1996 Basulto was flying a third Cessna when two Cuban Migs swooped in and blew the unarmed planes out of the sky. The shoot down occurred in international airspace north of the Cuban coast.
Brothers to the Rescue had for years flown missions into the Straits of Florida spotting and helping rescue Cuban rafters. That's what they were doing the day the volunteer group lost four of their members to the Castro Brother's heat-seeking missiles.
Local
No response from the U.S. Attorneys office.
Family members of the slain pilots and Basulto sued in federal court and won monetary judgments against the Cuban government because of the deaths, but they have had no luck in getting the feds to move on the Castro Brothers.
Prosecutors did take a case against the Cuban Mig pilots to a grand jury and got indictments.
Fourteen years have gone by since the death and destruction over the waters between Key West and Havana.
Basulto and the Brothers the Rescue see their quest for justice fading with every year, but that's does not mean they are ready to through in the towel. They will be back again next year with cannons if no indictment comes down.
