The ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel came to the defense of Raúl Castro Ruz on Wednesday, just minutes after the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against the former Cuban leader and five other military personnel for the downing of two civilian planes from Hermanos al Rescate in 1996, resulting in four fatalities.
On his account on the social network X, Díaz-Canel posted a lengthy message in which he described the accusation as "a political act, with no legal basis, that only aims to bolster the file being fabricated to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba."
The communist leader attributed the accusation to "the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel due to the unwavering firmness of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership."
Díaz-Canel defended the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996, a case for which the U.S. justice system has formally charged the Army general and five other Cuban military personnel.
He insisted that Cuba acted that day "in legitimate defense, within its jurisdictional waters," and argued that the current U.S. administration had been warned "on more than a dozen occasions" about the alleged violations of airspace by Brothers to the Rescue, which he referred to as a "narcoterrorist organization."
"There is ample documentary evidence that there was no reckless action nor any violation of international law," he asserted, and immediately afterward, he accused the U.S. military forces of carrying out "calculated and openly publicized extrajudicial executions of civilian vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific."
The Castro-led leader stated that there are no legal grounds for the process and accused the United States of "lying and manipulating" the events that occurred 30 years ago.
At the same time, he lavished praise on Castro, whom he described as a leader with "ethical stature" and a "humanist perspective," who, "as a guerrilla chief and statesman, won the love of his people" and "the respect and admiration of other leaders in the region and the world."
According to him, those "values" of the Cuban nonagenarian general are his "best defense and a moral shield" against what he described as a "ridiculous attempt to undermine his stature as a hero."
The charges presented this May 20 —Cuba's Independence Day— include conspiracy to assassinate U.S. citizens, destruction of aircraft, and four individual counts of murder, and were announced by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at the Freedom Tower in Miami.
"For almost 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have awaited justice," stated Blanche.
The four victims were Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, all residents of Miami, whose bodies were never recovered following the attack by Cuban MiG-29 fighters over international waters of the Florida Strait.
The crux of the accusation is an audio recording from June 1996 in which Castro, then Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), admits to having ordered the attack: “I said to try to bring them down over land, but they entered Havana and left... Well, bring them down at sea when they appear; and do not consult with those who have the authority.”
This evidence is corroborated by over 10,000 pages of declassified FBI documents that reveal the existence of an "Operation Venice," planned since February 13, 1996, which indicates premeditation of the attack.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded that the aircraft were shot down between nine and 10 nautical miles outside of Cuban territorial airspace, that is, in international airspace. This point is crucial, as the regime in Havana claims that the shootdown occurred within its jurisdictional waters, while the U.S. and international organizations maintain the opposite.
In addition to Castro, the accusation includes the Cuban military personnel Lorenzo Alberto Pérez Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Bárzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also reacted to the accusation, labeling Marco Rubio as a "spokesperson for corrupt and vengeful interests," while the Cuban Embassy in the United States described the process as a "deception."
On her part, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar celebrated the accusation with a powerful statement: "Today marks the beginning of the end for the Castro family."
Despite the historical weight of the announcement, the accusation has mainly symbolic significance: Raúl Castro Ruz, just two weeks away from turning 95 years old, has never set foot on U.S. soil, and there is no extradition treaty between Cuba and the United States.
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