U.S. Judge Orders Cuba to Pay $185m

U.S. Judge Orders Cuba to Pay $185m
10.08 a.m. ET (1508 GMT) December 17, 1997

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge today ordered Cuba to pay nearly $185 million to the families of three Americans killed last year when Cuban jets shot down two small private planes over international waters.

The three men were shot from the sky by Cuban MiGs while on a flight searching for rafters fleeing Cuba.

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, ruling in a damage lawsuit filed by the victims' families, said the government of Cuba should pay $49.9 million in compensatory damages while its air force should pay $134.7 million in punitive damages.

Relatives of three of the four men killed in the Feb. 24, 1996, shootdown over the Florida Straits south of Miami had asked for $79.9 million in damages from the Cuban government.

Three separate lawsuits were consolidated into this case: one brought by the wife and daughter of Armando Alejandre, 45, and the other two by the parents of Carlos Costa, 29, and Mario de la Pena, 24.

The families sought damages under a new U.S. law that allows survivors to sue countries labeled as terrorist states. The families want to be paid from Cuban assets frozen by the U.S. government.

A fourth victim, Pablo Morales, wasn't a U.S. citizen, and his relatives weren't eligible to sue under the terrorism law.