By Jim Burns. CNS Senior Staff Writer.
CNS News, February 26, 2001.
(CNSNews.com) - A Republican Congressman says in light of new evidence,
Cuban leader Fidel Castro should be indicted for murder for the 1996 attack on
three unarmed civilian aircraft piloted by Cuban exiles in international
airspace over the Florida Straits.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, chairman of the House Veteran Affairs
Committee, said new evidence indicates the killings were entirely premeditated.
In an opinion piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal, Smith said, "Justice
will not be done...unless the criminal conspiracy is traced up the chain of
command to its ultimate source. This chain almost certainly leads to Fidel
Castro."
Four Cuban exiles died on Feb. 24, 1996, when Cuban MIGs fired on planes
belonging to the Miami-based group called Brothers to the Rescue. The group
marked the fifth anniversary of the shootdown on Saturday, with a ceremony in
Miami.
According to Smith, as part of an espionage trial of four Cuban intelligence
officers now taking place in Miami, "federal prosecutors have produced
messages from Havana intercepted days before the planes were shot down."
Smith said the messages appear to be warnings directed at a Cuban agent who
had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue. The messages warned him not to fly with
the Brothers between Feb. 24 and Feb. 27, "in order to avoid any incident
of provocation [the Cuban exiles] may carry out and our response to it."
Smith called on Attorney General John Ashcroft to review the evidence and
consider whether Castro, as a head of state, has immunity from prosecution.
(Rep. Smith notes that such "head of state immunity" did not stop U.S.
courts from prosecuting Panama's Manuel Noriega.)
If "head of state immunity" does not apply to Castro, Smith wrote,
"a federal grand jury should be convened to determine whether the evidence
warrants an indictment of Mr. Castro for murder." As for criminal charges,
Smith said, "John Ashcroft's Justice Department should review the evidence
that has been languishing for five years as well as the new evidence that has
come to light."
On Saturday, Brothers to the Rescue remembered the shootdown by flying a
three-plane formation from Opa-Locka airport near Miami into Cuban airspace
where the shootdown happened.
Brothers to the Rescue leader Jose Basulto led the formation. As the
aircraft circled the shootdown spot, Basulto recited the names of the four Cuban
exiles killed, referring to them as "our martyrs" and dropping
bouquets into the Atlantic.
Havana air traffic controllers acknowledged the existence of the Brothers
planes but no Cuban military aircraft intercepted them.
Before the Brothers plane took off, Florida Governor Jeb Bush met with Cuban
exile leaders in Miami's Little Havana. The exile leaders, according to reports,
said they look forward to working with Bush's brother, President George W. Bush,
after years of policy disagreements with the Clinton administration.
President Bush has said that U.S. policy toward Cuba would not change while
Castro remains in power. Rep. Smith said, "The responsibility to ensure
that justice is done now passes to the new administration." | 