The Government of Cuba condemned the United States indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro regarding the attack on two small planes by the island’s forces, which caused four deaths thirty years ago.
“The United States Government lacks legitimacy and jurisdiction to carry out this action, which constitutes a despicable and infamous act of political provocation based on the dishonest manipulation of the incident that led to the shootdown over Cuban airspace in February 1996,” the Government of Cuba pointed out in an official statement released on Wednesday.
Havana also signaled that Washington omits, among other crucial details, the multiple formal complaints presented by Cuba during that period to the US Department of State, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the International Civil Aviation Organization regarding more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of the island’s airspace by the Miami-based anti-Castro organization Brothers to the Rescue.
The Cuban response constituted an act of legitimate defense, supported by the United Nations Charter, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the principles of aerial sovereignty and proportionality.
Read more about this topic: CIA confirms director’s meeting in Cuba (with video)
“The United States, which has been a victim of the use of civil aviation for terrorist purposes, does not permit nor would it permit the hostile and provocative violation of foreign aircraft over its territory and would act, as it has already demonstrated, with the recourse of force,” it added.
The Cuban Government furthermore considered it of “great cynicism” that this indictment is formulated by the very same Government that killed around 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from United States territory, with the disproportionate use of military force for alleged links to drug trafficking operations that were never proven.
The authorities of the island likewise classified the indictment against “the leader of the Cuban Revolution”—Raúl Castro—as illegitimate, attributing it to desperate attempts by anti-Cuban elements to construct a fraudulent narrative against the island through the reinforcement of unilateral coercive measures, as well as the energy blockade applied since January and threats of armed aggression.
The indictment against Castro, who is 94 years old and the younger brother of Fidel Castro (1926-2016), emerged at a time of growing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump against the Cuban Government, which includes an oil blockade imposed five months ago and an expansion of economic sanctions against the island.
Read more about this topic: Iran War: Trump says he may turn focus to Cuba (with video)
Trump imposed an oil blockade on the island, reinforced threats to take control of the country, and expanded sanctions against the Cuban leadership and the military business conglomerate Gaesa, which is responsible for around 40% of the island’s gross domestic product (GDP) according to the most conservative estimates.
These actions, combined with the capture in January in Caracas of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, a fundamental ally of Cuba, have deepened the economic and humanitarian crisis that the island faces, which remains depleted of crude oil and plagued by severe energy problems.
