Maggie Khuly. Published Wednesday, June 20, 2001 in the
Miami Herald
The direct evidence on the shoot-down was horrifying.
Armando Alejandre, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales and Mario de la Peña
were shot down by Cuban MiGs over international waters of the Florida Straits on
Feb. 24, 1996. Since that day we, their families, have gone through some
grueling experiences. But the trial of the United States of America vs. Gerardo
Hernández was by far the most intense.
For nearly seven months -- from last November's jury-selection process
through the verdict on June 8 -- many lives were disrupted and placed on hold,
including the jury's and our own. We shirked family and work responsibilities to
attend the trial and related hearings every day. After five hours of court time,
we vainly tried to reconnect with our lives ``before the spy trial.''
This wasn't the first time we went to court. In the first civil action under
the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, U.S. District Federal Judge
James Lawrence King found that ``the government of Cuba, on Feb. 24, 1996, in
outrageous contempt for international law and basic human rights, murdered
Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.''
King's decision was a satisfying moral victory for us. It reaffirmed that
Cuba's government was a terrorist regime and guilty of cold-blooded murder. But
his ruling was not complete justice; for this we need criminal indictments in
U.S. courts for those directly responsible for the murders. Criminal
prosecution, however, was not within our reach and depended entirely on the U.S.
government.
We appealed to President Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director
Louis Freeh and Special Agent-in-Charge Héctor Pesquera, then-U.N.
Ambassador Madeleine Albright and U.S. Attorneys Tom Scott and Guy Lewis and
their prosecutors, among others. We repeatedly asked them for criminal
indictments.
When the Second Superseding Indictment in the spy case was made public, it
included a charge against Gerardo Hernández for conspiracy to commit
murder on the Feb. 24 shoot down. This wasn't exactly what we wished for, but we
saw it as a springboard to additional criminal action.
During the spy trial, we sat through a process that, in the interest of
protecting the rights of the defendants, made the victims almost invisible
throughout. One defense expert witness testified that he didn't recall any
specifics about two of the dead men, but that in any case personal information
was ``irrelevant.''
Only one photograph of each of the dead men was admitted into evidence so as
not to elicit undue sympathy from the jury. Armando, Carlos, Mario and Pablo
became nonpersons as the trial took a life of its own.
The direct evidence on the shoot-down was horrifying. We had never heard the
audio of the Cuban MiG pilots' conversations with the air controllers as they
shot down the planes. We were appalled at their euphoria. For the first time we
saw a photograph of the MiG 29 directly responsible for shooting the missiles --
with two red stars painted on its side as proof of the pilots' ``prowess.'' To
us, they were a reminder of the blood shed on Feb. 24.
It was very difficult not to make any mistakes that would violate the
judge's gag order or jeopardize the trial in any way. At times the defense
attorneys turned to look at us to assess our responses to the evidence. We
learned fast not to react, and more often looked down than at the witnesses. We
used an unoccupied court floor for breaks to limit accidental contact with the
press, and we prayed a lot.
PROUD AMERICANS
As the trial ended, jury deliberations began and the verdict approached, we
became apprehensive. We had pinned our hopes on the U.S. justice system, and
based on the evidence presented, we believed conspiracy to murder had been
established beyond a reasonable doubt. Yet numerous smoke screens had been
presented to the jury. The guilty verdicts proved that the jurors were not
fooled.
We rejoice in the process that uncovered the truth. We are proud to be part
of a community where a jury that did not include a single American of Cuban
background was able to convict based on the evidence and despite the defense's
efforts to pit one part of the community against others.
Jury foreperson David Buker said it well: ``We're humans, we care about our
country. I'm absolutely convinced that good people of any race, ethnicity or
nationality can evaluate information.'' We are proud to be Americans.
Are we pleased? Very. Are we satisfied? Not yet.
Maggie Khuly is the sister of Armando Alejandre.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 
