>
> On Eve of Raul Castro Indictment, Archive Posts Declassified FAA
> Documents on Events Leading to Shootdown of Cuban Exile Planes
>
> FAA Emails Foresaw “Worst Case Scenario”
> “One of these days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes”
>
> *Washington, D.C., May 19, 2026* - One month before Cuban MiG aircraft
> shot down two unarmed Cessna planes off the island coast, a Federal
> Aviation Administration (FAA) official cited “further taunting of the Cuban
> Government” by the Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR) overflights and State
> Department concern about a “worst case scenario” in which “one of these
> days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes and the FAA better have
> all its ducks in a row.” The declassified FAA email is one of several
> records on the shootdown published today by the National Security Archive.
>
> FAA emails, memos, and communications recorded concerns among high-level
> Clinton administration officials that repeated penetrations of
> Cuban airspace would eventually lead to a crisis if Cuba acted to protect
> its territorial integrity from provocative BTTR incursions. “A major fear
> is the possible downing of a BTTR aircraft by land-based gunfire,” a
> summary of an August 1995 meeting with White House officials stated.
>
> The posting comes as the U.S. Department of Justice prepares to indict
> Cuban leader Raul Castro for his role in the downing of the BTTR planes. At
> the time, General Castro served as minister of defense and was the highest
> officer in the military chain of command in Fidel Castro’s government.
>
> The FAA documents were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act
> (FOIA) for the 2014 book, *Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of
> Negotiations Between Washington and Havana*, by American University Cuba
> specialist William LeoGrande and Archive senior analyst Peter Kornbluh. The
> book detailed multiple back channel attempts by Cuban leaders, including
> Fidel Castro, to press the Clinton Administration to halt the provocative
> BTTR flights.
>
> In their book, the authors described the shootdown as “a Greek tragedy
> that played out in the skies over Cuba.”
>
*https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2026-05-19/cuba-declassified-records-brothers-rescue-shootdown
<https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2026-05-19/cuba-declassified-records-brothers-rescue-shootdown>*
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