User:TopazSun/José Basulto sandbox

José Basulto (1940 - ) born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba and emigrated to the United States in 1959. He is an active member of the Cuban exile community in South Miami, Florida.

1960s
Following the Cuban Revolution, Basulto participated in various activities intended to subvert or overthrow the Cuban government. 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. In 1961, under CIA sponsorship, Basulto infiltrated Cuba for a commando operation intended to sabotage a missile site, a mission which was ultimately aborted. In August 1962 he took a boat to Cuba and fired a 20mm cannon at a hotel, though nobody was killed in the incident.

1980s
In the 1980s Basulto flew medical supplies to the Nicaraguan Contras which were embattled with the Castro-allied Sandinista government.

1990s
In 1991, he founded the organization Brothers to the Rescue and is presently the leader. The group, whose stated purpose was to assist Cuban rafters emigrating from the country, has entered Cuban airspace on numerous occasions and dropped leaflets over Havana containing training material to the Island on how the people of Cuba can act on their own, oppose the government, and even overthrow it in an effort to provoke the Cuban government. José Basulto is considered a terrorist by the Cuban government.

On May 24, 1991, José 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.

1996 shootdown incident
José Basulto was the pilot of one of three planes on February 24, 1996 flying in and/or near Cuba territorial airspace timed to coincide with a meeting of Cuban dissedents in Havana, when Cuban MiGS shot down the other two planes resulting in an international uproar. Since then, Basulto has sought to have criminal and civil charges pressed over the matter. He was awarded a $1.7 million judgement in January of 2005.