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Bird of Paradox

José Basulto, president of Brothers to the Rescue, is a CIA-trained warrior who insists he supports nonviolent resistance. Complicated? Sí, señor.

A A A Comments By Kirk Nielsen Thursday, Apr 26 2001

"We're looking forward to an answer from the White House, whether they are going to permit that Fidel Castro be indicted for that murder. If the U.S. government expects the Cuban community here to respect the institutions of the United States, to believe that this is a country of laws, that the rule of law will be followed, we expect at least a response from the president on why it will be done or why not. There is a crime that is unresolved and unpunished, and we want answers from the president."

For now Basulto is lying low until the trial ends. He has no flights planned. "It's kind of a polluted atmosphere, so we decided to keep things low-key." How is he going to mark the tenth anniversary of Brothers to the Rescue? "We're holding a mass," he reported.

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Basulto insists his heralded 1962 shelling of the Rosita Hornedo hotel was his last act of exile violence

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Mindful of the gag order, Basulto would not predict how the jury -- which consists of blacks, Anglos, and Latinos, but no Cuban Americans -- might decide this latest round in the Cuban conflict. "Let me make this blanket statement," he said after a careful pause. "I think that to this day anything that has happened has been for the good of Brothers to the Rescue and the cause that we pursue. It's a slow path, but we're moving forward. Sometimes at a high cost. Like, for instance, the loss of life. But even that moves us forward."