By George Gedda, .c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, 3 (AP) - A Vietnamese-American pilot engaged in a ``provocative and reckless action'' by flying a small plane into Cuban airspace and dropping anti-communist pamphlets, the State Department says.
The department said Sunday it was fortunate that the incident Saturday did not result in any loss of life. It noted that Cuban authorities did not take aggressive action against the aircraft in compliance with their international obligations.
The official comment was disclosed by a State Department press official who under agency procedures could not be identified by name.
There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government.
The U.S. Customs Service identified the pilot as Ly Tong, a 51-year-old naturalized American citizen who arrived from Vietnam in 1984. He lives in New Orleans and was visiting friends in Miami.
While Tong was flying the rented plane over Havana, Cuba sent two MiG fighter jets to monitor his flight until he left Cuban airspace, Customs Service spokesman Michael Sheehan said. The MiGs took no action, he added.
The flight recalled an incident in February 1996 when two small, unarmed civilian planes took off for Cuba from Miami and were shot down by MiG jet fighters north of Havana, killing four Cuban-Americans on board. An angry Congress retaliated days later by tightening sanctions against Cuba.
Cuba insisted the planes had penetrated Cuban airspace, but the Clinton administration disagreed. An international inquiry concluded that the planes were shot down in international airspace.
The State Department said Tong's action was particularly reckless in light of the 1996 incident.
A Customs Service radar center in Long Beach, Calif., tracked the single-engine plane once it left U.S. airspace after leaving Tamiami Airport in Miami on Saturday.
``His reason for going down was to drop leaflets, anti-communist leaflets in multiple languages,'' Sheehan said.
The aircraft returned to Tamiami Airport about four hours after it left and Customs officials detained Tong for questioning, then released him without charge.
The State Department said the flight was an apparent violation of Federal Aviation Administration rules. Kathleen Bergen, an FAA spokeswoman, said an investigation was under way.
``Very important people are paying attention to what happens the first day of the third millennium,'' Tong said. ``How can I sacrifice my life for Cuban freedom? I believe in God, justice and my mission against communism.''
Tong, a self-proclaimed ``freedom fighter,'' told Miami television station WSVN he wants the Cuban people to revolt against President Fidel Castro.
``The most important thing is to try to encourage the Cuban people to rise up and overthrow the Havana pirate,'' he said. He added that he wants to make similar flights over China and North Korea.
The green paper pamphlets found scattered in some Havana neighborhoods called on Cubans to launch a general strike and to seize radio and television stations.
The pamphlets were signed: ``Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Anti-Communist Forces of the World,'' followed by an illegible signature.
AP-NY-01-03-00 0223EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press. |