Cuban Refugee Pilot Lands Soviet-Era Plane in Florida

A Cuban man fleeing from the communist Castro regime landed a small Soviet-era airplane in a Florida airport this weekend, the latest dramatic episode in a growing wave of Cubans trying to desperately flee from the inhumane conditions on the island.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Rachel Torres, the 29-year old Cuban pilot, identified by his family as Rubén Martínez, landed alone in the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport at 11:30 a.m. on Friday. The aircraft, a Soviet-era Antonov An-2 biplane designed mainly for agricultural work by the Soviet Union in the late 1940s, belonged to the Castro regime’s National Air Services Company (ENSA), for whom Martínez worked as a pilot prior to his defection.   

“CBP will follow existing policies to determine the admissibility and immigration status of the Cuban citizen,” Torres said according to Univision.

The Castro regime reacted to the incident by publishing a statement through its media apparatus on Saturday in which it accused Martínez of having committed an act of piracy. According to the Castro regime, Martínez took off from ENSA’s airport located in the Sancti Spiritus municipality to carry out agricultural fumigation works but did not return.

“This fact represents a violation of Cuban airspace, operational safety and aeronautical regulations, in correspondence with the Annexes of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention),” the Castro regime’s statement read.

According to Radio Martí, Martínez remains detained by U.S. authorities at an undisclosed location as of Monday.

Elisa Machado Padron, the mother of the pilot, posted a message on her Facebook account on Friday that read, “for the knowledge of all who know me. This morning my son left the country illegally, taking with him the plane in which he worked. I do not approve of his decision but above all he is still my son. I am not a prisoner as they are already saying in media campaigns.”

Martínez’s escape from the communist Castro regime comes at a time when Cuban citizens, tired of the inhumane conditions that they are being subjected to – including endless blackouts, hunger, and severe medicine shortages – continue to peacefully protest demanding an end to communism in Cuba after six decades. 

Cuban citizens continue to desperately attempt to flee communism through any means necessary, going as far as to brave the passage of Hurricane Ian in September. The Spain-based Diario de Cuba reported in September that more than 197,000 Cuban citizens had arrived to the United States fleeing from communism between October 2021 and September 2022 at an average rate of 585 Cuban citizens per day, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics. The amount represents two percent of Cuba’s entire population. 

Under the Obama administration, the “wet foot, dry foot” policy that granted legal stay to Cubans who touched American soil was discontinued to appease the Castro regime, alongside other concessions.

The Biden Administration has implemented a policy of discouraging Cuban refugees from fleeing by sea, but doing little to stop the growing flow of Cubans taking the land route from Central America to the U.S. southern border. Unlike the sea route, which requires Cubans to build makeshift vessels on their own, refugees must pay heavy fees to human trafficking operations in Mexico and Central America to allow them to pass, financing criminal operations including drug trafficking.

The land route also exposes Cuban refugees to exploitation by criminal organizations. Such is the case of eight cuban women aged 18-24 that entered the United States via the Mexican border and were forced into sexual slavery as payment for the $60,000 debt incurred by having been smuggled into the country.

Florida’s Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced on Monday via a news conference that the Cuban women had been rescued, and that 34-year-old Amet Roman Maqueira De La Cal and 29-year-old Rosalia Leonard Garcia had been arrested on 47 charges related to human trafficking, false imprisonment, prostitution, unlawful use of a two-way device, sexual battery, and human smuggling.

Biden has focused deportation actions against Cuban balseros, or “rafters,” who take to the Straits of Florida. Earlier in October, the Biden administration deported a group of 22 Cuban citizens that stole a boat to reach U.S. soil.

U.S. Coast Guard reported on Saturday than an additional 94 Cuban “rafters” had been deported on that day.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.