May 15 (Reuters) – The Trump administration plans to unveil criminal charges against Cuba’s former president, Raul Castro, based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban military jets killed four people, according to a U.S. Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Here are details about the incident:
On February 24, 1996, Cuban jets shot down two small planes being flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a group of Cuban exile pilots. All four men aboard were killed. Cuba said the planes were in Cuban airspace, while the United States said they were over international waters. Cuba defended the shootdown as legitimate defense of its airspace but the U.S. position was later backed up by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which concluded the attack took place over international waters.
WHO WERE ‘BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE’?
The Miami-based group said its mission was to search the Florida Straits for Cuban rafters fleeing the island. The group routinely flew near the Cuban coast. In early 1996, Cuban officials accused the group of dropping tens of thousands of flyers over Havana. The group’s leader, Jose Basulto, said the leaflets were dropped over international airspace and carried by winds to Cuba. However, the group’s members had flown over Havana in recent months to drop literature.
CUBA’S RESPONSE
Fidel Castro, who was then Cuba’s president, said after the incident that he gave general orders to stop the flights but did not specifically order them to be shot down. Castro said the military acted on “standing orders” and that his brother Raul, who at the time oversaw the nation’s security services as defense minister, also did not give a specific order to shoot the planes.
A former Brothers to the Rescue member, Juan Pablo Roque, alleged on Cuban television that the pilots’ group had flown into Cuban airspace to gather information ahead of a possible attack and had planned to smuggle arms into the country. U.S. officials dismissed his claims as propaganda and said he was likely a Cuban agent.
THE U.S. RESPONSE
President Bill Clinton ordered sanctions including suspending charter flights, restricting Cuban diplomats’ movement, and seeking cooperation with Congress on tightening the embargo. However, the Clinton administration did not pursue criminal charges against either Castro brother. The Justice Department filed charges against three Cuban military officers in 2003 but they were never extradited.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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