The Cuban filmmaker Pavel Giroud reacted live this Wednesday to the news of the formal criminal charges presented by the U.S. Department of Justice against Raúl Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, as the press conference of interim Attorney General Todd Blanche began at the Freedom Tower in Miami.
Giroud was participating in an interview with Tania Costa when the news was confirmed in real-time, with Reuters and several international outlets reporting the announcement based on a leak.
"I believe that people suddenly resort to this idea of international jurisprudence and things like that, of which I know nothing because I am not a man of law. They should condemn him for whatever. I mean, for his crimes, but he should pay for all of them," declared the director of "El Caso Padilla."
The filmmaker emphasized the civilian nature of the aircraft shot down 30 years ago as a key element of moral and international condemnation: “They were not military planes, they were civilian light aircraft. If someone has to pay, let them pay.”
The charges against Raúl Castro include conspiracy to assassinate American citizens, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of homicide for the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, the four Cuban Americans who lost their lives on February 24, 1996.
Alongside Castro, five other Cuban military personnel were accused: Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez.
In response to the question of whether the accusation could impact the current 'impasse' between Washington and Havana, Giroud was cautious: "I share the same uncertainty as you. I have never dared to predict anything about the future of Cuba."
The director ruled out military intervention as a means of change if alternatives exist, though he did not completely dismiss it. "This is a political chess game in which I have no participation. I just want the situation in Cuba to change, for Cuba to become that other country that the majority of us want, and for it to happen through the most peaceful means possible."
Giroud also expressed his personal distress over the situation on the island. "I am very desperate for the situation in Cuba to change. For my family, who are there, because here I have electricity, food in the fridge, and they don’t."
The Cuban regime referred to the accusation as "rascal" and Díaz-Canel described it as a "political action without legal basis," while, as expected, he came to the defense of Raúl Castro.
Giroud concluded with a minimal but meaningful aspiration: "I am satisfied if we become a normal country, with shortcomings."
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