{"id":725,"date":"2026-05-22T05:34:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=725"},"modified":"2026-05-22T05:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T05:34:06","slug":"ex-wife-of-cuban-spy-who-infiltrated-volunteer-group-thankful-for-castro-indictment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=725","title":{"rendered":"Ex-wife of Cuban spy who infiltrated volunteer group thankful for Castro indictment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Cuban fighter jets shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft and killed four men in 1996, other than family members who lost loved ones, perhaps no one was more intimately impacted by the incident than Ana Margarita Martinez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more U.S. charges former Cuban pilot with murder alongside Ra\u00fal Castro: How they cracked \u2018Code 22\u2032<\/a><\/p>\n

She was married to a man she thought was a Brothers to the Rescue hero, but turned out to be a Cuban spy. When federal officials announced the indictment against Ra\u00fal Castro and others allegedly involved in the shootdown incident, Martinez went to the event, despite having a broken foot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWow, when they were talking about the Cuban spies, I wanted to yell, I was married to one of them!\u201d Martinez said in an interview conducted at her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat could happen next after the U.S. indicted former Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro. NBC6’s Steve Litz reports\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

She had a four-year relationship with Juan Pablo Roque. He was one of two Cuban spies who infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue as volunteer pilots. Roque infamously disappeared the day before the shootdown, and then turned up in Cuba two days later as a hero to the regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo prior to this, espionage for me was something you saw in the movies, you know? It wasn\u2019t real, but it became very real,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI was completely blindsided, I had absolutely no knowledge, I wasn\u2019t prepared for that, it was the worst episode, the worst nightmare of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The betrayal was devastating for Martinez and her family, realizing her marriage was a sham.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it helped his cover, I think that I was probably approved by Havana,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Sister of high-ranking Cuba conglomerate official arrested by ICE in Miami<\/a><\/p>\n

The indictment says Cuban intelligence instructed Roque not to fly with Brothers to the Rescue on Feb. 24, 25, 26 and 27. Martinez said BTTR called to see if Roque could fly on the 24th, the day the shootdown happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI answered the phone and passed it on to him, and he said that he would be on a business trip that weekend and obviously, he couldn\u2019t fly,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cYou know, you have to be a sociopath, you seriously have to be a sociopath and not have a conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roque told her several times he was proud of the life-saving work he did by flying with Brothers to the Rescue, spotting desperate Cuban refugees floating on rafts who were trying to make it to America. Martinez has no idea if he was sincere about anything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what to believe in that sense, it\u2019s so difficult to believe that someone could be so extremely cold-hearted,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cAnd he could\u2019ve saved four innocent lives, and to me, that\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez points out that Roque knew what was going to happen to his colleagues at Brothers to the Rescue, and he chose not to alert them of the danger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roque died in Cuba last year. Martinez said when she found out, it did not phase her because, she says, he had already been dead to her for many years.<\/p>\n

Read more Coral Gables business owner says he\u2019s ready to leave after World Cup event issues with council members<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Cuban fighter jets shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft and killed four men in 1996, other than family members who lost loved ones, perhaps no one was\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-wife of Cuban spy who infiltrated volunteer group thankful for Castro indictment - Jacksonville Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=725\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-wife of Cuban spy who infiltrated volunteer group thankful for Castro indictment - 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