Unreleased Tape Unveils Final Moments of Brothers to the Rescue Tragedy

An audio tape that had been preserved for thirty years in the personal collection of former pilot Reinaldo Martín offers, for the first time, a chilling glimpse into the voices and panic inside the cockpit of the lone Brothers to the Rescue plane that made it back to Florida on February 24, 1996. On that day, Cuban Air Force MiG fighters shot down two civilian airplanes over international waters in the Straits of Florida.

CNN gained exclusive access to this material and shared the recording this week.

The cassette, recorded from José Basulto's plane cockpit—identified by the call sign "Gaviota 1"—captures the communications among the three aircraft flying that day and the moment the crew realized they were under attack.

You can hear the voices of Carlos Costa, referred to as "Gaviota Charlie," piloting a second plane alongside Pablo Morales, and Mario Manuel de la Peña known as "Gaviota Mike," with Armando Alejandre Jr. aboard.

The microphone attached to Basulto's headset captures the confusion and fear: "They're going to shoot us," the pilot warns. Then, a haunting silence follows. Basulto calls out to "Charlie" and "Mike," but receives no response.

Voices from the Past

"We're next," Basulto cautions. "The other one destroyed. The other one destroyed," he says later.

"Both have fallen. They shot down both planes," Martín explains during the CNN report while showcasing the cassette. "This is gold," he states, presenting the recording. "It gives you goosebumps to hear it," he admits while listening.

Sylvia Iriondo, a passenger on Basulto's plane during her first flight with the group, survived because the aircraft managed to escape. She heard the recording for the first time on CNN cameras.

"It's the first time I'm hearing Basulto's recording saying we were next, that they were going to shoot us," she declared. To her, the incident is crystal clear: "They fired on unarmed and defenseless civilian aircraft in international airspace."

Remembering the Victims

The four victims were Costa, a Marine veteran; De la Peña, 24 years old; Alejandre Jr., born in New Jersey and a family man; and Morales, a former rafter previously rescued by the organization itself. Three were U.S. citizens, and the fourth was a legal resident. Their bodies were never recovered.

The United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that both planes were downed outside Cuban airspace: the first about 18 miles from the coast and the second more than 30 miles away, when the Cuban territorial limit was 12 miles.

Justice Pursued

The CNN report comes amid a formal charge by the U.S. Department of Justice in May against Raúl Castro—who was the Minister of Defense in 1996—and five Cuban military officers. They are accused of conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, aircraft destruction, and four individual murder charges.

Castro, now 95, is considered a fugitive from American justice. The only accused in custody is retired Lieutenant Colonel Luis Raúl González-Pardo, who was transferred to Miami on June 9, 2026, to face the charges.

In a recording released in 2006 by journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla in El Nuevo Herald, Raúl Castro admitted to having given the order before the attack: "Shoot them down at sea when they show up; and do not consult those with the faculties."

For Mirta Méndez, a relative of one of the victims, the charges must not become a symbolic gesture. "We cannot have an accusation that remains stuck in a drawer," she asserted to CNN.

Regarding the possibility of Castro facing justice at age 95, she was resolute: "It doesn't matter. He's still active and giving orders. So if he can't walk, in a wheelchair; if he can't sit, on a stretcher."