Published Friday, February 2, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
Overflight is at heart of accused spy's defense
By Gail Epstein Nieves. gepstein@herald.com
When Brothers to the Rescue founder José Basulto buzzed over Havana
on July 13, 1995, he said he was encouraging "civil disobedience'' by the
Cuban people.
Now, more than five years later, Basulto's controversial violation of Cuban
airspace has become a centerpiece for the defense of an accused Cuban spy.
At issue is a seven-minute flight Basulto made in his Cessna 337 without
permission from the Cuban government. Against prosecutors' objections, jurors in
the Cuban spy trial were shown a videotape of the flight Thursday.
On board with Basulto was co-pilot Guillermo Lares, who testified Thursday
that he threw religious medallions and bumper stickers from the airplane. The
stickers had the slogan "Compañeros No. Hermanos,'' or "Not
Comrades. Brothers.''
Basulto has yet to take the witness stand to talk about the flight, but a
taste of what awaits him emerged in the courtroom Thursday.
Defense attorney Paul McKenna has made it abundantly clear that he plans to
present a trial-within-a-trial -- and his chief target is Basulto.
McKenna represents accused spy master Gerardo Hernández, who is
shootdown that killed four men. McKenna has said Basulto is to blame for the
killings, for allegedly baiting Cuba with a series of provocations despite
warnings against violating Cuban airspace.
The United States and a U.N. investigation concluded that the shootdown
occurred in international waters; Cuba maintains the shootdowns happened over
Cuban territory.
During direct examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes about
the 1995 flyover, Lares said Basulto headed the Cessna south for Havana after
they saw the flotilla boat Democracía cross into Cuban waters and get
sideswiped by two Cuban patrol boats. Three protesters on the boat were injured.
The boats and planes were part of a flotilla to mark the anniversary of an
encounter that happened one year earlier, when a Cuban gunboat rammed and sank a
tugboat commandeered by Cubans trying to flee the island.
During McKenna's cross-examination, Lares repeatedly said he did not know or
could not recall important details regarding the Havana overflight. He said he
did not know what the flight plan was for that day.
McKenna fired a series of explosive questions:
Had he helped test "anti-personnel devices'' -- PVC pipes loaded with
ammunition -- that were to be dropped into Cuba to foment a "popular
uprising?'' Had he ever seen a MiG 23 fighter jet at Opa-locka Airport purchased
for Brothers? Had Basulto ever told him he was ready to carry out a military
mission against Cuba? Was he aware Basulto had tried to purchase a
Czechoslovakian fighter jet?
Lares answered "no'' to every question.
Lares acknowledged that Brothers pilots routinely ignored warnings from
Cuban air traffic control to avoid flying in "restricted'' air zones
because in reality those areas were outside Cuban territory, he said.
But after the 1995 Cuba overflight, McKenna asked, hadn't Brothers been
warned by the Federal Aviation Administration and by Cuba that "a plane
could be shot down'' if it again violated Cuban airspace?
"Before '96?'' Lares asked. "I don't recall. I don't think so.''
Lares acknowledged that Brothers donated funds to support dissidents on the
island. But he disagreed with McKenna's contention that Brothers' mission
evolved from humanitarian search and rescue into political activism. He also
denied making another unauthorized flight over Cuba in 1994.
Outside the jury's presence, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard warned Sofia
Powell-Cosio, Basulto's lawyer, to stop nodding her head "yes or no'' as
Lares testified, or "I'll have to ask you to leave.'' Powell-Cosio, who was
sitting in the front row, said she was only answering questions from the woman
sitting next to her.
Czech leader extends stay in Cuba
From Herald Staff and Wire Reports
HAVANA -- Seeking freedom for two Czech nationals jailed here on subversion
charges, the leader of the Czech Republic's senate, Petr Pithart, said Thursday
he would extend his stay in Cuba until Saturday in hopes of meeting Cuban leader
Fidel Castro.
Pithart, who has been waiting to talk with Castro since Monday, was
scheduled to leave Havana late Thursday.
Former Czech Finance Minister Ivan Pilip and Jan Bubenik, a student leader
during Prague's 1989 Velvet Revolution, were arrested Jan. 12.
The Cuban government has charged the two Czechs with subversion, accusing
them of holding "meetings of a conspiratorial nature with members of
subversive Cuban groups'' and of being U.S. agents.
Pithart said he thought the Cubans might be relenting on the most serious
charges against the two men.
Cuba's foreign minister, Felipe Pérez Roque, told the Cuban press
that Pilip and Bubenik were being rigorously investigated and that they would be
treated "with the due respect Cuba is used to.''
Pithart, who met Tuesday with the two detainees, was invited to Cuba by
Castro.
Marifeli Pérez-Stable, an expert on Cuba, said in Miami that the
decision to hold the two Czechs, and the resulting international outcry over
their detention, is part of a plan to keep ordinary Cubans mobilized against
outsiders.
In that vein, she said Castro is asking Cuban Embassy personnel in the Czech
capital Prague to fight to the death over the issue and is calling on his people
to take to the streets -- the more so if the issues involve the United States.
"It's been nonstop since Elián 14 months ago,'' said Pérez-Stable,
a visiting professor at Florida International University and the author of The
Cuban Revolution (1993).
Arresting the two Czechs may have been a mistake, Pérez-Stable said,
especially since the International Union of Parliamentarians is scheduled to
meet in Cuba in April.
"It would be a crisis of international proportion if they're tried and
condemned,'' she said.
"It would be hard to imagine parliamentarians from democratic countries
going to Cuba if this doesn't change.''
Herald staff writer Yves Colon contributed to this report.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 