Pilot whisks family out of Cuba

WASHINGTON - In a stunt evoking the aeronautical antics of Matthias Rust, the German who landed in Red Square in 1987, or the derring-do of the man from Milk Tray, a former Cuban defector flew back this weekend to whisk his family to the United States, writes David Usborne.

The daring mission, which has thrilled Cuban exiles in the US and warmed most other American hearts, was accomplished by Orestes Lorenzo Peres. Once a major in the Cuban air force, he defected in 1991 by stealing a MiG-23 fighter and landing it at a US Air Force base in Florida.

Mr Lorenzo was quickly granted asylum in the US, but has been battling since to win the release of his wife and two children. The Cuban authorities, doubtless piqued at the loss of their MiG, never relented, refusing to let the family leave and keeping them under close surveillance. Even pressure from President George Bush on the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, made no difference.

On Saturday Mr Lorenzo finally took things into his own hands, taking to the air once more to defy his former masters. Lent a four-seater Cessna light aircraft by a human rights group, he took off late on Saturday afternoon from an airstrip on Florida's southern tip, and less than one hour later landed the aircraft safely on a two-lane highway on Cuba's north coast.

His wife, Maria Victoria, and two sons, Reyniel, 11, and Alejandro, six, were waiting. The scene of the Lorenzo family scurrying on board the small aircraft in the middle of the road was, according to Mr Lorenzo's own description, watched by the passengers of a bus and a lorry, both of which drew up on the road and watched as the aircraft accelerated down the yellow lines and took off again, Florida-bound. The mission took two hours.

'This makes James Bond look like a small boy,' was the reaction of one of thousands calling in on Saturday night to Cuban-American radio stations in Florida.

Interviewed on Miami television, his younger son in his arms, Mr Lorenzo responded simply: 'Our love is the love of freedom. Today, I think love won.'

(Photograph omitted)