The recent maneuver by the United States Department of Justice against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, demands rigorous analysis in light of international law, which exposes the absolute lack of legal basis for this provocation. Far from constituting a legitimate judicial process, we are faced with an unacceptable exercise of extraterritoriality, a flagrant violation of international legal norms, and a crude attempt to undermine the sovereignty of our homeland.
This accusation, lacking any legitimacy or jurisdiction, constitutes an infamous act of political provocation that seeks to dishonestly manipulate the events of February 24, 1996, when our nation defended its sovereignty against the interference of the terrorist organization calling itself Brothers to the Rescue.
Far from the fraudulent narrative that the empire attempts to impose by disguising this subversive group based in Miami as a supposed "humanitarian" entity, history and documentary evidence demonstrate an undeniable reality: Brothers to the Rescue was dedicated to carrying out hostile provocations against Cuba.
THE ILLEGALITY OF EXTRATERRITORIALITY AND LACK OF JURISDICTION
From a strictly legal standpoint, the United States government lacks all legitimacy and jurisdiction to prosecute a citizen and leader of another sovereign nation for acts committed in the full exercise of protecting its own territory. This accusation is legally fraudulent because it has no legal, political, or moral basis whatsoever. The attempt to apply U.S. laws extraterritorially to judge a foreign leader constitutes an aberration that disregards the principle of sovereign equality among states. As President Miguel Díaz-Canel has denounced, this is a "political action, without any legal basis."
LEGITIMATE DEFENSE AND THE PROTECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW
The attempt to criminalize the events of February 24th, 1996, deliberately and dishonestly omits the legal framework that protected the actions of the Cuban State. Cuba's response to the repeated incursions into its airspace by aircraft operated by the terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue constituted an irrefutable act of legitimate self-defense. This protective action was fully protected by the Charter of the United Nations, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the customary principles of air sovereignty and proportionality.
The documentary and diplomatic evidence preceding the event is overwhelming and demonstrates the exhaustion of peaceful means. Between 1994 and 1996, the Cuban government filed multiple formal complaints with the U.S. State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), detailing more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of Cuban airspace in blatant transgression of international law. Faced with the inaction and complicity of the U.S. government, Cuba issued public and official warnings—sending alerts directly to then-President Bill Clinton—indicating that any unauthorized aircraft would be intercepted and, if necessary, neutralized. The use of force was, therefore, a legally justified measure to safeguard national sovereignty against blatantly public and hostile provocations.
A CALL FOR RESPECT FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW
The prosecution of a statesman and historic leader of the Revolution of another sovereign state is not an act of justice, but a grave transgression of diplomatic conventions that undermines the very foundations of global institutions. As our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned, this infamous legal indictment is part of the "dark practice of the United States of using accusations like this to justify military action against sovereign states," instrumentalizing its justice system as an excuse for armed aggression.
As denounced by our country’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, this spurious process against our Leader of the Revolution is fraudulent, without legal or moral basis. It is part of the United States’ practice of fabricating pretexts to justify military aggression and collective punishment of the Island through the intensification of the genocidal blockade.
Cuba has repeatedly reaffirmed before the global community its commitment to peace and its unwavering determination to exercise the inalienable right to self-defense, recognized in the Charter of the United Nations. Consequently, it demands an immediate end to the abusive use of U.S. judicial institutions and insists on the strictest respect for international law and the sovereignty of nations. No spurious ruling or coercive measure will be able to break the unshakeable resolve of our people to defend their homeland and their socialist revolution.
Faced with such imperial manipulation, it is our duty to denounce it and call upon the international community and people of goodwill to speak out, as various governments, political parties, social movements, and prominent figures from around the world have already done.
This new aggression crashes against a country that will not surrender. The Cuban people reaffirm today, with the utmost strength and resolve, their unwavering determination to defend the Homeland, their socialist Revolution, and to offer their unrestricted and unwavering support to Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution. Any attempt by imperialism to subdue us will always be met with our heroic resistance.
*Doctor of Science, Full Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Havana
Photo: Dunia Álvarez Palacios
CHRONOLOGY OF SOME VIOLATIONS OF CUBAN AIRSPACE BETWEEN 1994 AND 1996
May 15th, 1994
Five aircraft originating from Florida violated Cuban airspace in the western region between Cárdenas, Matanzas province, and Mariel, now Artemisa province, over a distance of between 15 and 80 miles, maintaining a distance of between 1.5 and 5.5 miles from the coast. The incident was officially reported to the then-U.S. Interests Section in Havana (USINT) via Diplomatic Note 908, dated July 21th, 1994.
May 17th, 1994
Two Cessna-331 light aircraft, registration N-5888 vN-108LS, originating from Florida, violated Cuban national airspace in the western region between Cárdenas, Matanzas Province, and Mariel, now Artemisa Province, over a distance of between 15 and 80 miles, maintaining a distance of between 1.5 and 5.5 miles from the coast. Officially reported to the then-USINT by Diplomatic Note No. 908 of July 21th, 1994.
May 25th, 1994
Five aircraft originating from Florida violated national airspace in the western region between Cárdenas, Matanzas Province, and Mariel, now Artemisa Province, over a distance of between 15 and 80 miles, maintaining a distance from the coast between 1.5 and 5.5 miles. Officially reported to the then-USINT by Diplomatic Note No. 908 of July 21th, 1994.
May 29th, 1994
Five aircraft originating from Florida violated national airspace in the western region between Cárdenas, Matanzas Province, and Mariel, now Artemisa Province, over a distance of between 15 and 80 miles, maintaining a distance from the coast between 1.5 and 5.5 miles. This was officially reported to the then-USINT via Diplomatic Note No. 908, dated July 21th, 1994.
July 10th, 1994
At 10:00 AM, an airspace violation was detected by aircraft with registration number N-2506, originating from the United States, 20 kilometers north of Guanabo, Havana Province. The aircraft violated an area of 18 kilometers at a depth of three kilometers, leaving national airspace north of Havana at 10:30 AM.
April 4th, 1995
Between 10:14 and 10:51 local time, a C-331 aircraft violated Cuban airspace in areas north of the western region, between the towns of Santa Fe and Guanabo, Havana Province, over a distance of five miles, maintaining a distance from the Cuban coast that ranged between 5 and 10 miles. This was officially reported to the then-USINT by Diplomatic Note No. 694, dated May 25th, 1995.
July 13th, 1995
Four aircraft from the United States, with registration numbers N-108LS, N-2506, N-5485S, and N-312MX, entered Cuban territorial waters north of Havana, violating the MU-P1 restricted airspace and flying dangerously and negligently over the city of Havana at low altitude.
This was reported to the then-USINT via Diplomatic Note 1100, dated August 21th, 1995, which included a copy of the letter sent by the IACC to the FAA.
January 9th and 13th, 1996
Cuban authorities detected two light aircraft from Opa Locka Airport in Florida flying over the territory of what were then Havana provinces, dropping subversive propaganda urging actions against the Cuban constitutional order. Officially reported to the then-USINT by Diplomatic Note No. 45 of January 15th, 1996.
On numerous occasions, overflights of Cuban territory occurred in dangerous zones designated by Cuban authorities and duly reported, in accordance with international regulations for military training, with the consequent risk of causing accidents with incalculable consequences.
Source: Granma Newspaper, February 27th, 1996.
