Cuban pilot named in indictment against Raúl Castro sentenced to prison in immigration fraud case
A Cuban Air Force pilot tied to the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown 30 years ago was inside a Florida courtroom on Thursday.
But this case was tied to immigration fraud, not the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown in which former Cuban leader Raúl Castro was just indicted by federal officials last week.
CBS News Miami learned late Thursday morning that 65-year-old Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez was sentenced to seven months in jail, but will likely only spend about 10 days in jail.
That's because he's already been in federal custody for six months in Jacksonville, where the sentencing occurred.
But CBS News Miami also learned he will likely be taken into custody yet again to face more serious charges connected to the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.
Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez pleaded guilty to the immigration charge in January. He failed to disclose that he was a member of the Cuban Air Force for nearly 30 years on immigration forms.
He was also named in the federal indictment against Raúl Castro for the Brothers to the Rescue plane shootdown.
He and three other pilots are accused of engaging in "training missions using Cuban military aircraft to find, track, pursue and intercept small, civilian aircraft off the coast of Cuba" in the leadup to the Brothers tot he Rescue plane shootdown.
Last week, Rodriguez was indicted along with former Cuban President Raul Castro and four other men for his alleged role in the plan to shoot down two humanitarian planes in 1996 over international waters. Four Brothers to the Rescue volunteers were killed.
"They deserve more than silence. They deserve the truth," said Arnaldo Iglesias, who was on one of the planes that got away and says he was chased by Rodriguez's Cuban fighter jet.
He hopes the former pilot will now cooperate with investigators.
To understand the full truth about what happened on Feb. 24, 1996, including how far north the Cuban MiGs chased our aircraft after the murder," Iglesias said.
A letter obtained by CBS News Miami from a relative of Rodriguez to the judge overseeing his immigration fraud case sheds light on how he arrived in the U.S.
"In 2023, he arrived with humanitarian parole," it says, a Biden-era program. His entry drew the ire of many Cuban-Americans.
But Ramon Sanchez of the group Democracy Movement hopes that Rodriguez being in U.S. custody means he could be compelled to help investigators.
"There might be people in here, in the U.S. still, that were never uncovered, that we've never learned about them — that were participating in the downing of the pilots," Sanchez said.
Given the recent federal indictment, Gonzalez-Pardo is expected to stand trial in Miami at a future date.
CBS News Miami also reached out to his attorney in Jacksonville for more information.