José Basulto

José Basulto is the leader of the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue. The group, whose stated purpose was to assist Cuban emigrant rafters fleeing from the country. Basulto is considered a terrorist [http://www.terrorfileonline.org/en/index.php/Jose_Jesus_Basulto_Leon] by the Cuban government. ref|terroristSince the Cuban Revolution, Basulto participated in various activities intended to subvert or overthrow the Cuban government. After the revolution, he was trained by the CIA in intelligence, communications, explosives, sabotage and subversion in Panama, Guatemala, and the United States. He was later placed back into Cuba, posing as a physics student at the University of Santiago to help prepare the ground for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. ref|courtinfo In 1961, under CIA sponsorship, Basulto infiltrated Cuba for a commando operation intended to sabotage an alleged missile site, a mission which was ultimately aborted. In August 1962 he took a boat to Cuba and fired a 20 mm cannon at a hotel, though nobody was killed in the incident. In the 1980s Basulto flew medical supplies to the Nicaraguan Contras.

Ever since the Cuban government shot down the planes, Basulto has sought to have criminal and civil charges pressed over the matter. He was awarded a $1.7 million judgement in January 2005. On May 24 of that same year, Basulto announced a one million dollar reward for information leading to the indictment of Raúl Castro on drug charges or charges related to the shooting of the Hermanos planes. ""It would throw a wrench in the machinery," Basulto said of a possible indictment. [http://www.hermanos.org/docs/washingtonpost052405.htm]

Notes

Information from the 2001 Cuban spy trial, referred in "The Miami Herald", March 13, 2001. [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/exile/basulto-testifies.htm]

See, for example, "Granma International", December 13, 2005. [http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/diciembre/mar13/51basulto.html]

Reference

José Jesus Basulto Leon [http://www.terrorfileonline.org/en/index.php/Jose_Jesus_Basulto_Leon]