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The Cuban Civil Aviation Institute (IACC) published this Saturday on its social media a institutional infographic on air sovereignty in which it asserts absolute control over national airspace, invoking Article 1 of the Chicago Convention of 1944, which states that "every state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory."
The publication comes three days after the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against Raúl Castro and five former Cuban military personnel for the downing of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. citizens.
In a lengthy comment on its own publication, the IACC defended that shootdown as an act of "legitimate defense, supported by the UN Charter, the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the universal principles of air sovereignty."
The Cuban aviation authority argued that in the 20 months prior to the incident, the pilots of Hermanos al Rescate made 25 illegal incursions into Cuban airspace, dropping subversive propaganda leaflets, and that the Cuban government filed at least 24 diplomatic complaints with Washington and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) without receiving an effective response.
The IACC also stated that the final report from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) "did not directly blame Cuba" and, on the contrary, "recognized the complete and exclusive sovereignty of each state over its airspace and confirmed that those aircraft had carried out numerous illegal overflights since 1994."
However, ICAO determined at the time that the shootdown occurred between nine and ten nautical miles outside of Cuban territorial airspace, that is, in international waters, which constituted a violation of international law.
The federal indictment, endorsed by a grand jury in Miami on April 23, 2026, includes charges of conspiracy to assassinate U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of homicide for the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
Alongside Raúl Castro, the former military personnel Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez were accused, identified by the Department of Justice as being directly responsible for the operation.
The Cuban regime has responded with a campaign of institutional rejection. Díaz-Canel described the accusation as a "political action with no legal basis"; the Council of State issued a statement labeling it as "infamous" and an "illegitimate and despicable act," and last Friday, a gathering took place at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana.
The IACC concluded its statement with a remark that encapsulates the official stance of the regime: "What occurred on February 24, 1996, was the result of an organized and sustained provocation. Those who seek to judge today ignore history and, above all, the fact that a nation has the right and duty to defend its skies against orchestrated aggression."
The accusation is mainly symbolic: there is no extradition treaty between Cuba and the United States, and Raúl Castro, at 94 years, has never set foot on American soil.
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