Related videos:
Cubadebate, the official media of the Cuban regime, published an article yesterday accusing the United States of carrying out capital punishment without a fair trial through attacks on vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific, as part of Operation Southern Lance.
According to the article, based on information from the state-run Russian media RT, since September 2025, Washington has launched a sustained military campaign that has resulted in at least 180 deaths in attacks against alleged drug boats.
The jurist Jorge Vicente Paladines, referenced by Cubadebate, stated that "there is no due process, there is no crewmember of the so-called 'narcolanchas' who has been arrested to be tried in criminal or military courts."
However, the choice of the Cuban regime as a critical voice regarding those operations sparked an immediate and strong reaction among Cubans in the comments of the Facebook post.
Dozens of users reminded the regime of its own unpunished crimes, using the tugboat 13 de Marzo as a central reference.
"This reminds me of the tugboat 13 de Marzo," wrote a user. "Where was the defense for the victims of the tugboat 13 de Marzo?" asked another. "They sank a tugboat with women and children, and they don't talk about that," added a third. "You killed innocents at sea, and now you're outraged by this," questioned another internet user.
The criticism of the publication went further, denouncing the terror imposed by the government's repressive machinery over all these years.
" as if there were an impartial justice system in Cuba," "You have young people imprisoned simply for expressing themselves, without breaking any laws," "Don't talk about trials or rights when in Cuba they imprison those who think differently," "You speak of murders without trials, but you have been repressing and killing for decades," and "First, talk about your political prisoners and the children detained in Cuba," were some of the opinions expressed.
On July 13, 1994, four Cuban state vessels deliberately sunk the tugboat 13 de Marzo seven miles from the bay of Havana, resulting in the deaths of between 37 and 41 people, including ten minors, among the 72 who were attempting to flee the country.
Fidel Castro characterized that crime as a "truly patriotic effort." The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights documented the intentional attack in its Report No. 47/96. The crime remains unpunished to this day.
The commentators also recalled the downing of the Hermanos al Rescate planes on February 24 in 1996, ordered by Raúl Castro, which resulted in the deaths of four people in international waters. "And what about the Hermanos al Rescate planes? Did they forget about that?", asked a user.
Others recalled the summary executions of three young men in just nine days following the hijacking of the Regla ferry in 2003, without appeal or due process.
"The Cuban government is the one that can speak the least about human rights," summarized another commentator. "They have an entire population condemned without trial to live without freedom," asserted another.
The irony pointed out by Cubans is devastating: the same regime that today presents itself as a defender of international law is holding 775 documented political prisoners as of April 17, 2026, according to Justicia 11J, none of whom were included in the mass pardon of 2,010 prisoners announced on April 2, which explicitly excludes those who committed "crimes against authority."
Filed under: