Justice for the Victims of the 13 de Marzo Tugboat Massacre
The box above reads: "These are the victims of the tugboat! Victims of a tyrant who claims to be the defender of women and children in Cuba"
On July 19, 1994, the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights received a complaint stating that in the early morning hours of July 13, 1994, four boats belonging to the Cuban State and equipped with water hoses attacked an old tugboat that was fleeing Cuba with 72 people on board. The incident occurred seven miles off the Cuban coast, opposite the port of Havana. The complaint also indicates that the Cuban State boats attacked the runaway tug with their prows with the intention of sinking it, while at the same time spraying everyone on the deck of the boat, including women and children, with pressurized water. The pleas of the women and children to stop the attack were in vain, and the old boat--named 13 de Marzo --sank, with a toll of 41 deaths, including ten minors. Thirty-one people survived the events of July 13, 1994.
Caridad Tacoronte (4), Marjolis Méndez (17)
2 of the 41 murdered on July 13, 1994
July 13, 1995: Connection between the 13 de Marzo tug sinking and the February 24, 1996 shootdown
One year to the day after the sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat and the murder of 41 men, women and children Fidel Castro once again showed his true colors. In 1994 Cubans exercising their fundamental right to leave Cuba were massacred by Cuban gunboats. Exactly one year later on July13, 1995 Cubans exercising their fundamental right to enter Cuba were attacked by Cuban gunboats. Two of the Brothers to the Rescue planes flew over Havana and dropped bumper stickers over the capitol in response to the attack. This was done as a diversionary tactic when the lead boat, Democracia, was attacked by the Cuban gunboats. The bumper stickers read: Not Comrades. Brothers.
Castro had been humiliated and began to plot retaliation. Juan Pablo Roque, a Cuban Air Force pilot supposedly deserted in 1992 and infiltrated the Brothers to the Rescue organization. He, together with other Cuban spies in the South Florida area, and following instructions from the Cuban government, conspired to shoot down the aircraft. Details of this conspiracy were uncovered during testimony in US vs. Gerardo Hernandez, where Hernandez was convicted for conspiracy to commit these murders.
On February 24, 1996, three Brothers to the Rescue airplanes departed Opa Locka Airport in South Florida. The aircraft headed to the Florida Straits to conduct a humanitarian search-and-rescue mission of Cuban rafters. Before departing, they notified air traffic control in both Miami and Havana of their flight plans. The Cuban Air Force scrambled two military aircraft before the Brothers to the Rescue planes had even reached their search and rescue area, a MiG-29 and a MiG-23. The MiGs were fully armed and carried artillery, short-range missiles, bombs, and rockets.
The MiG-29 fired air-to-air missiles which disintegrated two of the small airplanes over international airspace killing their four occupants instantly and leaving no recoverable remains; only a broad slick of oil marked the place. The Cuban Air Force never notified nor warned the small civil aircraft, did not attempt to make use of other methods of interception, and never gave them the opportunity to land. The first and only response of the MiGs was the intentional destruction of the civil aircraft and of their four occupants.
Yousel Pérez Tacoronte dead at age 11
On October 16, 1996 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
concluded that the Cuban government was responsible for: the deaths of the 41 people shipwrecked on the tug 13 de Marzo on July 13, 1994; the emotional and psychological trauma of the relatives of the victims and survivors who lost loved ones. The Cuban government has refused to recover the bodies or allow others to for proper burial.
Those responsible for this crime remain unpunished. President Fidel Castro declares their actions were exemplary, there's no denying it."
The Cuban government has refused for the past 13 years to bring closure to this tragedy. We call on the international community, and its civic organizations to pressure the Cuban government to bring the guilty to justice, recover the bodies of the victims, and provide compensation to the surviving victims and families of the dead. Therefore, on July 13, 2007 we call on all people of goodwill throughout the world to hold vigils in remembrance of the 41 men, women, and children whose lives were cruelly taken from them by the Cuban government for the crime of seeking freedom in another land.
List of those murdered
Leonardo Notario Góngora(27)
Marta Tacoronte Vega(36)
Caridad Leyva Tacoronte(36)
Yausel Eugenio Pérez Tacoronte(11)
Mayulis Méndez Tacoronte(17)
Odalys Muñoz García(21)
Pilar Almanza Romero(30)
Yaser Perodín Almanza(11)
Manuel Sánchez Callol(58)
Juliana Enriquez Carrasana(23)
Helen Martínez Enríquez(6 months)
Reynaldo Marrero(45)
Joel García Suárez(24)
Juan Mario Gutiérrez García(10)
Ernesto Alfonso Joureiro(25)
Amado Gonzáles Raices(50)
Lázaro Borges Priel(34)
Liset Alvarez Guerra(24)
Yisel Borges Alvarez(4)
Guillermo Cruz Martínez(46)
Fidelio Ramel Prieto-Hernández(51)
Rosa María Alcalde Preig(47)
Yaltamira Anaya Carrasco(22)
José Carlos Nicole Anaya(3)
María Carrasco Anaya(44)
Julia Caridad Ruiz Blanco(35)
Angel René Abreu Ruiz(3)
Jorge Arquímides Lebrijio Flores(28)
Eduardo Suárez Esquivel(39)
Elicer Suárez Plascencia
Omar Rodríguez Suárez(33)
Miralis Fernández Rodríguez(28)
Cindy Rodríguez Fernández(2)
José Gregorio Balmaceda Castillo(24)
Rigoberto Feut Gonzáles(31)
Midalis Sanabria Cabrera(19)
and others not identified.
FREE CUBA Foundation
fcf@fiu.edu
Graham Center 2240
Florida International University
Miami, FL 33199
United States