Action sought in '96 shoot-down

 BY ALFONSO CHARDY

 Cuban exile leaders on Friday urged the U.S. Justice Department to indict Fidel Castro on murder charges for his alleged role in the 1996 shoot-down by a Cuban
 warplane of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue aircraft in which four people died.

 George Fowler III, legal counsel for the Cuban American National Foundation, told The Herald after a news conference on the issue that letters from the Justice
 Department and conversations with officials at the U.S. attorney's office in Miami suggest that the Bush administration is considering such an indictment.

 José Basulto, the Brothers to the Rescue leader who survived the shoot-down, said people pressing for Castro's prosecution have collected more than 105,000 signatures in the community demanding the indictment.

 Dan Nelson, a Justice Department spokesman in Washington, and Aloyma Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, declined comment. But
 Sanchez did not deny that her office may be exploring the case.

 ``I will tell you this: The investigation of the case in connection with the shoot-down remains ongoing,'' she said. ``We will continue to follow all leads and remain
 aggressive in investigating this crime.''

 Interim U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis has blamed the shoot-down on Castro's government. He spoke just minutes after a federal jury on June 8 convicted five Cuban
 intelligence officers on spy-related charges. One of the defendants also was convicted of murder conspiracy in the shoot-down.

 ``The evidence showed beyond any reasonable doubt that there was a conspiracy to murder these men, that one of the defendants in South Florida was involved in that conspiracy, that that conspiracy was hatched in Havana, in Cuba,'' Lewis said. ``The blame and the fault lies now clearly at the feet of the Cuban government.''

 On Feb. 24, 1996, three aircraft left Opa-locka airport for the Florida Straits. One was piloted by Basulto. A second plane was piloted by Mario de la Peña, who was assisted by rafter spotter Armando Alejandre.

 The third plane carried pilot Carlos Costa and spotter Pablo Morales. One MiG pilot shot down the planes bearing De la Peña, Alejandre, Costa and Morales.

 The Cuban government declined to respond to the exile statements Friday.

 ``Our government makes it a practice not to reply to comments made by extreme right-wing Cuban-American groups in Miami,'' said Frank Vazquez, a spokesman for the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington.

 In an interview with Time magazine released in March 1996, Castro said: ``I take responsibility for what happened.''

 Herald staff writer Andres Viglucci contributed to this report.

                                    © 2001 The Miami Herald