By Keith Bolender*
The United States indictment of former Cuban president Raul Castro over his alleged role in the downing of civilian aircraft in 1996 is nothing more than a cynical political stunt far removed from the facts of the incident, designed only to increase pressure on the beleaguered Cuban government with the hope it will finally precipitate the end of the revolution.
The Department of Justice indictment is another example of the weaponization of the department and makes “absolutely no sense” according to someone who was directly involved in the legal aftermath of the shootdown of the two Florida based Brothers to the Rescue planes (BTTR). Four US residents were killed.
Miami based criminal defence attorney Phil Horowitz, remarked that, “It makes no sense for the United States to invade Cuba to extradite a 94-year-old man. Particularly where there was no evidence during the trial following the shootdown that Raul Castro was involved in any way.”
Horowitz’s informed opinion comes from his representing Rene Gonzalez, one of the Cuban Five, government agents arrested in Florida on charges of spying. The charges were partially based on claims the agents were providing information to the Cuban government on the BTTR activities. The Five were convicted after a lengthy trial in 1998 that resulted in the charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. Gonzalez was also charged with not registering as a foreign agent. One of the Five, Geraldo Hernandez, was condemned to two life sentences for his alleged role in the shootdown although no direct evidence was presented that he was aware the Cuban government would down the planes. The Five eventually served out their lengthy sentences and are now residing in Cuba.
Gonzalez was a licensed pilot whose staged defection from Cuba in a stolen airplane resulted in him subsequently infiltrating and flying with BTTR. He was not part of the overflight into Cuban territory at the time of shootdown. Brothers to the Rescue was originally formed to help search for Cuban rafters trying to make it to the United States. When the American administration, at the time under Bill Clinton, arranged with the Cuban government the end of the rafter crises, BTTR then proceeded on a number of illegal overflights into Cuban territory dropping anti-revolutionary propaganda leaflets. Leading the BTTR was Jose Basulto, a Bay of Pigs veteran who had previously attacked a Cuban hotel in the 1960s. Cuban officials considered Basulto a terrorist and were concerned he was planning to drop explosive devices on the next incursions.
The revolutionary government has long maintained there is substantial evidence of violent anti-revolutionary organizations in southern Florida committing hundreds of acts of terrorism against Cuban citizens since the triumph of the revolution in 1959, resulting in the deaths of more than 3000 civilians. Two of the most infamous individuals, Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, were considered the masterminds behind the bombing of Cubana Airlines in 1976, killing all 73 on board.
Horowitz noted that in 2003 indictments were handed down against the head of the Cuban air force, as well as the two pilots who downed the BTTR planes, but there was no filing against Raul Castro. The current accusation claims that as head of Cuban defense at the time, Castro was responsible for the shootdown. To this day there remains controversy over whether the planes were shot down in international waters, or within Cuban territorial boundaries.
Ollie Aslin, producer of the award winning documentary on the Cuban Five, Castro’s Spies, noted that the inability to determine exactly where the planes were downed played a significant role during the trial of the Cuban Five.
“The incident led to the sentencing of Geraldo, which he had nothing to do with. And it’s outrageous that now the US is indicting Raul Castro 30 years later over something that remains so poorly reported in the media. The Cuban side simply maintains they were protecting their national borders, the right of every country.”
What remains undisputed is the Cuban government repeatedly protested to the United States and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to prohibit the Brothers to the Rescue overflights into Cuba, with the warning that action would be taken to prevent the flights if the American side would not ground them. At no time did the BTTR provide accurate flight plans prior to their incursions, in direct violent of FAA rules.
“There is video of these planes flying over Havana, on many different occasions. An absolute violation of Cuban sovereignty. The Cuban side showed a great deal of restraint, but finally they had enough. But could you imagine if there were Cuban planes flying over Washington illegally, dropping stuff, they wouldn’t last 10 minutes,” Horowitz said.
The official reply from the Cuban government following the indictment noted that, “The United States indictment of Raúl Castro has no legal basis and rests on a fundamental distortion: that Cuba possessed no right to defend its territorial integrity from U.S.-based terrorist groups like “Brothers to the Rescue”. This is false. Under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations and consistent with international law, every sovereign state possesses the inherent right to defend its territory, including its national airspace, against unlawful incursions. The 1996 downing of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft occurred only after Cuba exhausted all diplomatic channels with the U.S. government, and only in response to repeated, deliberate, and documented violations of Cuban sovereignty.
“Contrary to the narrative advanced by the Trump administration, Cuba did not act precipitously. Between 1994 and February 1996, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cuban civil aviation authorities recorded and documented more than 25 serious, deliberate, and systematic violations of Cuban airspace by aircraft associated with Brothers to the Rescue.”
Castro’s indictment is the latest incident in Trump’s continuous aggression against Cuba since the beginning of his second administration.
Recent American hostility against the island nation include the blockade of oil since February, with only one Russian tanker able to dock in Havana since then. The blockade has resulted in severe energy shortages, including blackouts of up to 20 hours a day in some parts of the country. According to a CBC report, Cuba is also experiencing extensive food shortages and high inflation.
Last month it was announced that the United States would impose sanctions on any company or individual doing business with the Cuban state, regardless of if they had business in America. It induced Sherritt International, a partner in Cuban mineral extraction, to suspend operations on the island.
This current hostility is part of the 60-year American effort to impose such suffering on the Cuba people that they will overthrown their own government. The strategy was officially stated in April 1960 by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter American affairs, Lester Mallory who advised the Eisenhower Administration that “every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba.” At the time, he said that included “denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.”
Horowitz noted that “this embargo, this blockade strategy continues, it is the United States doing everything they can economically, financially, they have done their best to beat the government through punishing the people. The nine million people on the island are ignored; they are the ones suffering. All Cuba wants to do is be left alone and conduct business for the betterment of its citizens. The only reason for this indictment is political, because there is no threat to the United Sates. What threat, they have no nukes, they are no threat.”
Whether Cuba represents a threat or not, the potential for an American military invasion remains high. And the United States through compliant media is trying to build the case that a military incursion would be justified, with Axios publishing claims of anonymous U.S. intelligence officials asserting Cuba has planned to dispatch a swarm of 300 recently-acquired military drones against the naval base in Guantánamo Bay.
Regardless of what happens, Cuba will be ready, according to Havana resident Heriberto Nicolas, “It’s something we have to take seriously. Trump has threated to bomb us, to invade us. Under this ridiculous pretext. If it happens, it will not work. We will be ready to defend ourselves and our independence. We will be ready.”
* Canadian journalist, writer and academic specializing in relations between Cuba and the United States.