Taking a look at the issues in Cuba

The Trump administration has given great attention to the island nation in this second term. I think it does so with good reason.

This past week, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida charged Cuban dictator Raul Castro and five Cuban MiG fighter pilots in connection with the 1996 downing of two small planes in international waters. The seven-count indictment asserts that the Cuban government conspired to shoot down aircraft carrying four Americans who were members of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue (Brothers). Brothers is a citizen air patrol formed in Miami in the early 1990s to assist Cuban refugees as they fled Cuba and navigated the Florida Straits.

Castro and the others face four counts of murder, one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and two counts involving destruction of aircraft.

The long and short of it is this: The indictment alleges that on Feb. 24, 1996, six members of Brothers were flying one of their typical charitable missions over international waters when Cuban MiG fighters shot down two of the planes and chased a third aircraft that managed to escape.

The Clinton administration later released transcripts that supporters of the indictment say provide compelling evidence linking Castro to the decision to destroy the planes. Further, a 1999 report by the Organization of American States condemned “the disproportionate and indiscriminate use of lethal force applied to the civilian aircraft.”

The official determination was that Cuban military fighter jets, allegedly acting under a chain of command overseen by Castro, shot down two unarmed civilian aircraft in international airspace. Prosecutors claim Castro, who was defense minister at the time, explicitly authorized the deadly force.

That is more than enough evidence for what prosecutors believe is a legally solid and durable criminal indictment.

Even though the deaths of these Americans took place many years ago, it is no less important to pursue justice and provide some sense of closure for their families.

I have always been amazed that the U.S. has allowed the existential threat of this communist dictatorship to exist so closely to our shoreline, a mere 90 miles away.

We recall the near U.S.-Soviet nuclear catastrophe of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis during the Kennedy administration. Cuba’s proximity to the United States has made the island a continuing national security concern. However, until now, America has largely pursued a policy of containment and isolation rather than invasion.

In fact, I thought there was a legitimate chance for Cuba to make a fundamental change in its form of government in 2016 when President Obama reopened diplomatic relations between our nation and Cuba.

Since the 1960s, the U.S. maintained a comprehensive economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba under State Department guidelines.

At the time, Raul Castro expressed interest in seeing the embargo lifted and engaging in a more normal diplomatic relationship. Perhaps even embracing economic and humanitarian reforms.

But alas, that was not what occurred.

We’ll see how this plays out, but both former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro can attest that things can go badly after becoming the subject of a U.S. federal indictment, as Raul Castro and these pilots now have.

It would not surprise me if this indictment proves to be merely a prelude to stronger action by our country.

As history teaches us, the wheels of justice turn slowly, but turn they do.

Royal Alexander is an attorney from Shreveport. He can be reached at [email protected].