Cuba condemns the despicable accusation against the Leader of the Revolution

Raul Castro marching on May Day in Havana

via the Revolutionary Government of Cuba, translated from the Spanish

Statement by the Revolutionary Government

The Revolutionary Government condemns in the strongest terms the despicable accusation by the United States Department of Justice announced on May 20 and proclaimed for several weeks against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution.

The United States government lacks the legitimacy and jurisdiction to carry out this action. It is a despicable and infamous act of political provocation, based on the dishonest manipulation of the incident that led to the downing, in February 1996, of two aircraft operated by the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue over Cuban airspace, whose repeated, hostile violations of Cuban airspace were common knowledge.

Furthermore, the U.S. government distorts other historical truths about the event it uses as a pretext. It omits, among other details, the numerous formal complaints filed by Cuba during that period with the State Department, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of Cuban airspace committed by the cited organization between 1994 and 1996, in blatant transgression of international law and U.S. legislation itself.

It also ignores public and official warnings issued by Cuban authorities about the inadmissibility of such violations of its airspace and warning messages conveyed directly to the President of the United States about the seriousness and possible consequences of such transgressions.

Cuba's response to the violation of its airspace constituted an act of legitimate self-defense, protected by the Charter of the United Nations, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the principles of air sovereignty and proportionality.

The United States, which has been a victim of the use of civil aviation for terrorist purposes, does not and would not permit the hostile and provocative violation of foreign aircraft over its territory and would act, as it has demonstrated, with the use of force.

The inaction of the US government in the face of the warnings issued by Cuba at the time, revealed its complicity in the planning and execution from its territory of violent, illegal and terrorist actions against the Cuban government and people, a recurring and systematic practice since the triumph of the Revolution to present day.

It is deeply cynical that this accusation is made by the same government that has murdered nearly 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from the territory of the United States, with the disproportionate use of military force, for alleged links to drug trafficking operations that were never proven, which qualify as extrajudicial executions, in accordance with International Law, and murders, according to US laws themselves.

This spurious accusation against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution adds to the desperate attempts by anti-Cuban elements to construct a fraudulent narrative in an effort to justify the collective and ruthless punishment against the noble Cuban people, through the strengthening of unilateral coercive measures, including the unjust and genocidal energy blockade and threats of armed aggression.

Cuba reaffirms its commitment to peace and its firm determination to exercise its inalienable right to self-defense, recognized by the Charter of the United Nations.

The Cuban people reaffirm their unwavering decision to defend the Homeland and its Socialist Revolution and, with the greatest strength and firmness, their unwavering and resolute support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution.

This work was translated and shared via a License CC-BY-NC