RockBottom

Posted on Thu, May. 03, 2007
Cuban officer killed in failed hijacking


By ANDREA RODRIGEZ
Fugitive army recruits tried to hijack a plane to the United States and killed a military officer they took hostage in the failed attempt early Thursday, the Interior Ministry said.

Two of the escaped recruits were arrested after Army Lt. Col. Victor Ibo Acuna Velazquez was killed in the aborted hijack that began in the pre-dawn hours when they commandeered a bus carrying several passengers to get to a plane on the tarmac, said a ministry statement.

"Despite being unarmed, he heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act," the statement said of the officer killed. Others who had been held hostage on the bus were unharmed, it added.

Throughout the day Thursday, there were rampant rumors of a shooting at the airport but the Cuban government and its official media were silent.

There had been a massive manhunt under way for three army recruits sought after fleeing their base. The two arrested were among three army recruits who escaped from their military base on Sunday after killing a fellow soldier and wounding another. The third was captured earlier, the ministry statement said.

The Defense Ministry over the weekend distributed wanted circulars around Havana, describing the fugitive recruits as armed and dangerous and saying they were sought for abandoning their posts. Some circulars were displayed in public places, including post offices.

The men, all from the eastern province of Camaguey, were identified as Leandro Cerezo Sirut and Alain Forbus Lameru, both 19, and Yoan Torres Martinez, 21.

Several baggage handlers told an Associated Press reporter who visited the airport that police had told them to tell anyone who asked to say that nothing had happened there that morning. Even so, none of them had appeared to have heard or seen the pre-dawn incident.

Later Thursday, all was calm and there was no increased police presence at the airport's Terminal 2.

About 150 people who lined up outside the terminal for their outgoing flights, or waited for loved ones to arrive from the United States, seemed oblivious that anything may have occurred there earlier.

Two departures Miami and one to New York later in the day were listed on time, as were the scheduled arrivals from those cities.

Spartan07

What, Did they threaten to send them to Iraq or something?

rickair7777

It's a good thing they weren't successful. I guess they didn't get the word that a hijacked airliner would probably turn into a submarine about 20 NM south of Miami.

Planespotta

R.I.P.

BTW, can anyone tell me why I can only post in the Pilot Lounge?

GauleyPilot

Planespotta:
Welcome to APC. I speak for many here who wish you the best in the future.

Probably because of your post in the Major forum about doing that thing with your watch down final.

Your profile says that you are not a pilot yet, but you are giving advice you learned from flying with a captian? That does not gain any respect for you here. Especially when you end with "Planes with no FMC I once flew".

blastboy

And what about those on here who's profile says "airline pilot" who are giving out lousy, unprofessional advice and burning people on here with an innocent question? I see pilots ranting and raving on here using four letter words and childish name calling. Don't they deserve the same thing? I've seen far worse on here than what planespotta may have done and I don't see you posting about their lack of professionalism. What gives?


edit: what in god's name is wrong with planespottas post? It appears that he was simply quoting the captain he flew with at the bottom. Maybe he flew with that captain in the cessna or something. I don't know and neither do you. Give the guy a break!

GauleyPilot

Blastboy,
He asked why he could only post in the pilot's lounge. My best guess is because his last post in the Major forum seemed to urk people.
In no way was I trying to slam Planespotta. I wish him well. I don't care for the name calling on APC either. I tried to answer his question as civil as I could. He would have either gotten no answer at all, or been pounded on and called names.

GauleyPilot

Planespotta:

If I offended you, please understand that it was not my intent. I was trying to inform you of a likely reason why you are unable to post in places on this forum.

Im sure your post was with good intentions, however, some people took it as strange. Perhaps an explanation of the source of your information, such as did you hear it from a pilot, read it somewhere, etc. would help your situation. Without any background, it came across as being from you, a future pilot, and that is something that the people in the Majors Forum frown upon.

If it makes you feel better, I seldom post in the Major Forum, because they don't care what I have to say either. I don't tell 777 pilots how to fly the line, they don't (shouldn't) tell me how to fly corporate.

Again, I was only trying to answer a tough question in the best way I could. A question that often either goes unanswered, or is responded to rather harsh.

GP

blastboy

It's difficult to tell what peoples' intentions, emotions and sense of humor is when reading text. LOL I'm sure planespotta didn't take offense but I was merely trying to save the guy from a potential bashing. I know you weren't bashing him but I didn't want your post to start a chain reaction and cause others' to jump in and start the bashing. It's happened to me before. (I just laugh at it) There's no hard feelings here because we're all pilots here and we love eachother, right? Yay!

GauleyPilot

Don't worry Blastboy, were cool.

I don't think people were too hard on Planespotta. The replies he got were a polite way of saying that his story was doubious. Most people simply made no comment at all. I think it was handled well, but potential for problems exists if a big stink emerges over this deal.

Sorry RockBottom for hijacking your hijacking thread