Accessory to murder?

The killing of four Cuban-American private rescue pilots by Fidel Castro's air force has provoked official, after-the-fact outrage from the U.S. government. But under-oath testimony shows that government officials knew Cuban MiGs were bearing down on the Cessna pilots; they did nothing. American interceptors were ready for takeoff; they were left on the runway. The pilots could have been warned; they weren't. The government's response: "A poor assumption." What happened in the crucial moments before the fatal shootdown? The details are "classified." But there's enough information available to suggest, at best, a government conspiracy of silence. | Mindy Belz

"I keep looking at all the information together-the lack of response on the U.S.'s part, the transcripts from the planes, the fact that they came so close to the United States and the Air Force didn't do anything-and it can only lead me to one conclusion: that, yes, certain factions of the U.S. government conspired with the Cubans to kill Brothers to the Rescue."

This statement does not come from a John Grisham melodrama, but from attorney Sophia Powell-Cosio. She spoke to WORLD at the end of eight days in federal district court in Miami last month, where her client, Jose Basulto, was locked in a battle with the U.S. government to keep his pilot's license. Mr. Basulto heads Brothers to the Rescue, a group of pilots originally organized to reduce the loss of life among balseros, or rafters, who are escaping from Cuba.