The head of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue won a $1.75 million judgment against the Cuban government for emotional trauma suffered after the 1996 shoot-down of two search planes.

BY JAY WEAVER

José Basulto, founder of the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, has won a $1.75 million federal judgment against the Cuban government for an attack on his and two other Brothers' planes almost a decade ago, costing the lives of four pilots and passengers.

Basulto survived the Feb. 24, 1996, attacks by Cuban MiGs in international airspace over the Florida Straits. But he said in his 2003 lawsuit that he feared for his life during the attack and has suffered emotional trauma since the assault.

''This continued fear has affected his daily life activities and ability to enjoy life, such as eating, sleeping, socializing and, not surprisingly, flying,'' U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra wrote in a ruling circulated Friday that awarded compensatory damages to Basulto.

Marra dismissed Basulto's claims against Cuban President Fidel Castro, his brother Raúl Castro and the Cuban air force. The Cuban government did not have anyone represent its interests at the trial.

Basulto, whose Opa-locka Airport-based group searches for Cubans trying to sail to the United States, said he was pleased with the ruling against the Cuban government but disappointed in the amount of the final judgment. He had sought $75.9 million in damages -- money he wanted to use to launch a new organization to push democracy on the island.

GRATIFIED

''I am happy that we had another moral victory against the government of Cuba,'' said Basulto, 64. ``But we had hoped for a larger judgment that would have made possible a fund to promote democracy in Cuba.''

He said he still plans to use the award money -- if he ever collects it -- for the pro-democracy group.

Basulto, like a handful of others who also won suits in state and federal courts in Miami, was able to pierce the Cuban government's sovereign immunity under a 1996 law that allows victims of U.S.-designated terrorist states to sue for damages.

The 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act has allowed the families of Brothers' fliers shot down by the Cuban air force, the daughter of a CIA pilot killed by the Cuban government, the jilted wife of a Cuban spy and the survivors of an American businessman executed during Cuba's revolution to challenge Castro's government in court.

Despite the legal victories, only the families of three Brothers' shoot-down victims have been successful in collecting damages from seized Cuban assets held in U.S. banks. The total collection: $93 million -- only about half of the $187 million court judgment.

The families won their federal suit in 1997, but it took four years of heavy lobbying before the Treasury Department and President Bill Clinton signed off on releasing the money.

The plaintiffs in the other three cases have not been as successful in collecting millions in damages.

Judicial Watch, a conservative, Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group that filed the suit on Basulto's behalf, said the Brothers to the Rescue president was ``nearly murdered in the terrorist act.''

''This is another step in the road to accountability for Castro and his regime,'' said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. ``I can imagine that Castro must be fuming that José Basulto, whom he tried to have murdered, will be collecting $1.75 million from his government coffers. We're confident we'll be able to obtain this judgment.''

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., did not return phone calls Friday.

In February 1996, three Brothers' civilian planes embarked on a flight to search for rafters in the Florida Straits. As the planes were in international airspace approaching Cuban territory, the pilots notified the Cuban authorities of their presence in the area under a protocol established with the U.S. government.

After a Cuban MiG passed in the front of Basulto's single-engine Cessna, he exclaimed: ``They are going to shoot us! They are going to shoot us!''

Basulto lost contact with the other two Brothers' planes, which were shot down. Two Brothers' pilots and two passengers were killed.

TERRIFYING PERIOD

According to Basulto, the Cuban pilots stayed with him for about a half hour. He and others on board his plane were terrified.

''We are next,'' Basulto said.

They eventually returned home safely.

The judge noted Basulto's words at trial: ``I have a MiG on my tail for the rest of my life.''