TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa pilot who has spent nearly 30 years fighting for accountability says the U.S. could soon indict former Cuban leader Raul Castro in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two American planes.
Reinaldo Martin, the pilot who was in charge of the Brothers to the Rescue group in Tampa, said U.S. officials are planning to indict Castro on May 20 — Cuban Independence Day — out of Miami.
WATCH: 'That day hurts me a lot,' Brothers to the Rescue pilot says Raul Castro faces indictment over 1996 shootdown
Brothers to the Rescue was an organization that helped Cuban rafters fleeing the island. On Feb. 24, 1996, two planes were shot down over international waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys, killing four people, including pilots Carlos Costa and Mario de la Peña.
Martin said he has a recording of the moment the planes went down, including the pilots' last words.
"We set up all our airplanes to be recorded both the Cuban frequency and our frequency," Martin said. "Carlos said 'there's a flare,' and it wasn't a flare, it was a missile that was heading to him."
Martin said the recording also captured the order to fire.
"Raul Castro gave the word to shoot down the airplanes," Martin said.
A memorial honoring the men who died stands on the corner of Columbus Drive and Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa.
Martin, who wore the shirt from his last mission during an interview with Tampa Bay 28 Annette Gutierrez, said the day of the shootdown still weighs on him.
"That day hurts me a lot because it was my weekend to fly," Martin said.
Martin said he took part in more than 130 missions and helped save more than 50 people.
"Nobody forced a gun in our heads for us to do this — we did it out of our own hearts," Martin said. "It was all humanitarian work."
And he said he is hopeful the long-awaited indictment will finally come.
"Hopefully, it happens soon. It should have happened a long time ago," Martin said.
Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who flew on one of the group's rescue missions as a city councilman, also called for accountability.
"It was tragic, and it's about time that those that ordered this or participated in it came to justice," Buckhorn said.
Buckhorn said he joined a mission to witness firsthand what Cuban refugees were risking.
"What they were doing was amazing in terms of, of their own volition and with their own aircraft, with their own time, willing to risk their life to go help Cubans who were trying to flee from communism to come to this country and be free," Buckhorn said.
Buckhorn worked to create the Tampa memorial following the tragedy. He said he hopes the indictment marks a turning point for Cuba.
"I hope, and we've said this for a long time, for decades, that it's the beginning of the end of communism in Cuba," Buckhorn said. "It's time for freedom in Cuba."
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