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wire servicesAs in most such cases, collecting won't be easy.
MIAMI - A judge on Thursday awarded more than $86-million to a woman who sued the Cuban government over her father's execution during the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
Janet Weininger was granted $86,562,000 in compensation in a lawsuit filed in state court under a federal antiterrorism law that lets families of victims of state sponsors of terrorism seek damages in American courts.
When she was 6, Weininger's father, Alabama National Guard pilot Thomas "Pete" Ray, was shot in the head at close range after his B-26 was shot down. His frozen body was displayed for a time in a glass case in Cuba.
Weininger testified she wrote more than 200 letters and telegrams to Cuban leader Fidel Castro asking for the return of her father's body. It was released from a morgue in 1979.
As in similar lawsuits, the Cuban government offered no defense and chose not to have representation in court.
The potential for Weininger to actually collect her judgment is limited. Her attorneys said they could pursue several avenues, including going after Cuba's frozen assets in the United States or seeking Cuban assets abroad.
In the Bay of Pigs invasion, about 1,500 exiles trained by the CIA stormed the island in April 1961 in an attempt to overthrow Castro's communist government. The failed three-day invasion ended with more than 1,000 invaders captured and about 100 killed.