New York Times

April 4, 1958. p. 2.

11 Cuban Pilots Quit, Ask Asylum in Miami

Special to The New York Times

MIAMI, April 3—Eleven pilots of two Cuban airlines asked political asylum in the United States here tonight. They said they had refused to obey orders to fly arms from the Dominican Republic to Cuba.

The orders were issued by the Cuban Consulate in Miami. In the present emergency all Cuban commercial fliers have been drafted into the Cuban Air Force.

A spokesman for the eleven pilots said the group had decided to disobey the orders “because we did not want to fly arms that could be used against the people of Cuba.”

“We are not military people, and we are not political,” they added. “Batista is going to kill and kill and we are not killers.”

Five of the pilots were employed by Cubana Aeropostal and the six others by Expresso Aero-Interamericano.