…in the event of a US attack on Cuba, Russia, as the successor state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), has the duty of defending Cuba, because in 1962 it stood as guarantor that the US would neither invade Cuba nor support countries that may want to do so.
The United States (US) Department of Justice, on 20 May, charged former Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz, 94, and five others, for their alleged roles in the 24 February, 1996 shoot-down of two unarmed US civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR). The US is demanding the death penalty or life imprisonment for the accused.
But in reality, any intelligent human being should know that this is an excuse for the invasion of Cuba. The US is aware that Cuba will never hand over Raul, the father of the nation and the most famous revolutionary alive.
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The US charge can easily be faulted on three main basis. First is the lie it tells which I, sitting in a village in Nigeria, can easily debunk. Secondly, having found then President Fidel Castro guilty of ordering the shooting, the same US cannot, thirty years later, indict his younger brother, Raul, for the same offence. This is a most foul smelling case of vicarious liability. Thirdly, the case falls within the purview of the United Nations Charter.
My fourth submission is that in the event of a US attack on Cuba, Russia, as the successor state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), has the duty of defending Cuba, because in 1962 it stood as guarantor that the US would neither invade Cuba nor support countries that may want to do so.
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Let me support these assertions with irrefutable facts. After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the US administration, the Havana (US) mob, and the Cuban ruling class, which lost power, decided to overthrow the Castro government.
In 1961, CIA-trained mercenaries invaded Cuba in what became known as the “Bay of Pigs Invasion.”
The following year, President John Kennedy imposed a unilateral embargo on the country, that subsists today, 64 years later. Then followed decades of sabotage attacks and hundreds of CIA-inspired attempts to kill Fidel Castro.
There was the 1976 terrorist mid-air bombing of Cuban airline Flight 455, in which the 73 passengers and crew were killed.
How did I confirm the veracity of this story? It is all over US government records, which are public knowledge. More importantly, Rear Admiral Carroll confirmed it in various accounts. For example, in a 25 February, 1996 interview, CNN anchor Catherine Callaway said Rear Admiral Carroll confirmed that “the Fidel Castro government gave clear warnings that it was considering taking action against the Brothers to the Rescue flights.”
Then there was the incident of the Cuban government downing the two aircraft of the BTTR, for which the US government has now charged Raul. The BTTR is a Miami based group led by CIA operative, Jose Basulto, established allegedly to “support the efforts of the Cuban people to free themselves from dictatorship…”
No sovereign country, including the US, would accept the violation of its airspace or be aware of plans to invade it and do nothing about this. The US claim against Raul and the Cubans is principally that Cuba shot down the two aircraft, “destroying them without warning.” This is a big fat lie. Although Cuba had no obligation to warn off the attackers, it nevertheless did.
Coincidentally, about the time of the planned invasion of the Cuban airspace, a US government delegation, led by Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll of the US Center for Defense Information, was visiting Havana. On 23 February, 1996, the Cuban government told him that it was aware of the planned invasion of its airspace and asked him to tell the US government to advise the group against its planned action. Carroll said he was unaware of any such invasion and immediately contacted the State Department. The latter, obviously aware of the plan, advised the BTTR to stop its planned flights, as it was obviously compromised. But, surprisingly, the BTTR went ahead the next day, sending three aircraft on the fatal mission. The Cubans shot down two of them.
How did I confirm the veracity of this story? It is all over US government records, which are public knowledge. More importantly, Rear Admiral Carroll confirmed it in various accounts. For example, in a 25 February, 1996 interview, CNN anchor Catherine Callaway said Rear Admiral Carroll confirmed that “the Fidel Castro government gave clear warnings that it was considering taking action against the Brothers to the Rescue flights.” In the interview proper, the American general said: “In long discussions with General Rozales del Toro and his staff, the question came up about these overflights from US aircraft — not government aircraft, but private airplanes operating out of Miami. They asked us ‘What would happen if we shot one of these down? We can, you know.’ And my response was it would be a public relations disaster.”
He confessed that the Cubans had issued these warnings six months earlier. He added: “I’ll give you an analogy. Suppose we had the planes flying over San Diego from Mexico, dropping leaflets and inciting against Governor Wilson. How long would we tolerate these overflights after we had warned them against it?”
President Kennedy, on 27 October, 1962, wrote a letter of committal to then USSR President Nikita Khrushchev that if the USSR undertakes “to halt the further introduction of such weapons systems into Cuba, we on our part would agree … (a) to remove promptly the quarantine measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against an invasion of Cuba.”
Secondly, the US government had found Fidel Castro guilty of shooting down the two planes. The State Department stated before Congressional hearings that: “fingerprints of the Cuban regime and, more specifically, Fidel Castro himself, are all over those two planes.” It added that the planes could not have been shot down without the direct authorisation of Fidel Castro, who was Cuba’s Commander in Chief. Therefore, to indict his younger brother thirty years later of allegedly authorising the same shooting is to find Raul guilty of vicarious liability.
The third point is that under Articles 2 and 51 of the United Nations Charter, all countries have “sovereign equality” protection from the threat or use of force, and an inherent right to self defence, which grants Cuba the right to shoot down intruding aircraft or forces.
Cuba knew the US had a predatory establishment that would not hesitate to wipe it off the earth’s surface. So, it decided in 1962 to build a defence system which included missile bases. But the US under President Kennedy threatened to go to war if Cuba, with the USSR’s assistance, went ahead with the weapons system. So, the US and USSR agreed that Cuba would be free from such weapons with the guarantee of an iron clad agreement that the US would never take advantage of that to invade Cuba or allow its allies to do so.
President Kennedy, on 27 October, 1962, wrote a letter of committal to then USSR President Nikita Khrushchev that if the USSR undertakes “to halt the further introduction of such weapons systems into Cuba, we on our part would agree … (a) to remove promptly the quarantine measures now in effect and (b) to give assurances against an invasion of Cuba.”
The USSR agreed the next day, and the agreement came into immediate effect. So, if the US is to violate that agreement by attacking Cuba, Russia, as the successor country to the USSR, has the duty to militarily defend Cuba by all means necessary.
Also, for sacrificing thousands of its youths defending Africa, we Africans must defend Cuba.
Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
