A Cuban pilot accused of lying on immigration forms—and now indicted in a 1996 shootdown along with Raul Castro—has been sentenced to seven months in prison.
Read more Jared Moskowitz to seek re-election in Florida’s new 25th Congressional District
Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, a retired lieutenant colonel of the Cuban Air Force, was sentenced for fraud in a visa or residency applications and providing false testimony to a government official.
In 2024, Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez arrived in the United States through a humanitarian parole program. According to prosecutors, while applying for permanent residency a year later, he concealed nearly 30 years of Cuban military service history.
He will likely only have to serve a week in prison in the case because he’s already served time in jail.
The indictment unveiled last week against Cuban leader Raul Castro in the shootdown of two planes flying with the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue also names Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez.
Prosecutors allege that he was among the pilots involved in the pursuit of a third civilian aircraft, the only one that managed to escape. He faces murder and conspiracy charges.
Read more Trio charged in massive retail theft scheme that targeted Florida hardware stores, AG says
His alibi fell apart when the federal government declassified a photograph showing him wearing an olive-green military flight suit next to a fighter jet and alongside fellow defendant Lorenzo Alberto Pérez Pérez.
After confirming his ties to the Castro-aligned armed forces, investigators laid out his exact role in the deadly 1996 attack that left four pilots dead—three U.S. citizens and one U.S. resident.
Luis Domínguez, a researcher with the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, reviewed transcripts of military communications submitted to the United Nations and managed to unmask the defendant’s secret alias: “Code 22.”
Now 65, he will face an ultimatum from the U.S. justice system: decide whether to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against the Castro leadership, or risk a murder trial that could cost him life in prison — or even the death penalty.
Read more Man facing child porn possession charges after Hollywood SWAT raid, cops say