Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has stated that the US government's attempt to bring charges against the former leader of the Cuban Communist Party, Raul Castro, lacks any legal basis.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that the president shared his remarks on the X social network on May 20.
Diaz-Canel wrote: "This is a political act aimed at reinforcing a fabricated case that has no legal basis and is designed solely to justify reckless aggression against Cuba." According to the president, the United States is distorting the facts surrounding the 1996 incident in which Cuba shot down two aircraft belonging to a humanitarian organization founded by Cuban emigrants in the US. He added that Washington is well aware that Cuba did not violate international law at the time, but rather acted in legitimate self-defense.
The statement follows an announcement by the US Department of Justice on May 20, which unveiled charges against Raul Castro and five others for the murder and conspiracy to murder US citizens. The charges relate to the February 24, 1996, shoot-down of two civilian Cessna aircraft operated by the "Hermanos al Rescate" (Brothers to the Rescue) organization by Cuban MiG fighter jets in international airspace.
The 1996 incident remains one of the most contentious points in the history of US-Cuba relations, leading to the immediate passage of the Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened the US embargo against the island nation. While Havana maintains the planes had repeatedly violated Cuban airspace to drop anti-government leaflets, international investigations by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) previously concluded the aircraft were over international waters when they were intercepted. This latest legal move by Washington is expected to further strain diplomatic ties between the two nations, which have seen fluctuating levels of tension since the re-establishment of formal relations in 2015.
