Published Thursday, March 1, 2001, in the
Miami Herald
The accused spy's defense portrays the shoot-down by Cuba as justified.
By Alfonso Chardy . achardy@herald.com
Brothers to the Rescue repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and air traffic
control zones despite numerous warnings by Cuba prior to the day of the
shoot-down of two Brothers planes five years ago, a government witness
acknowledged in court Wednesday.
Testimony by aviation expert Charles Leonard, in almost five hours of
intense defense questioning, clashed with some of his earlier statements to
prosecutors in which he painted a more sinister picture of Cuba's actions Feb.
24, 1996, the day of the shoot-down in which four people died.
On Monday, Leonard said that by shooting down the planes, Cuba had ignored
its own and internationally recognized procedures because it failed to warn the
planes before a MiG blasted them.
But in answers to Paul McKenna, defense attorney for lead defendant Gerardo
Hernández, Leonard acknowledged Cuba had repeatedly warned the United
States -- and the United States had relayed those warnings to Brothers -- that
planes might be downed if they persisted in "provocative'' flights.
McKenna's detailed cross-examination for the first time exposed jurors to
the most comprehensive outline of the Cuban government's perspective: That the
shoot-down was justified because the Brothers planes ignored warnings to stop
invading Cuban airspace.
"Isn't it true, sir, that Brothers to the Rescue planes ignored
warnings and entered an area that was activated as a danger area?'' McKenna
asked Leonard.
"They entered that area, yes sir,'' Leonard replied.
McKenna then asked whether a "sane'' pilot would fly into such an area
after hearing such warnings.
"They'd do so at their own risk,'' Leonard replied.
"So,'' McKenna added, "your normal, cautious pilot would not fly
to such area?''
"It'd be more prudent to avoid it -- if you could,'' Leonard concurred.
The cross-examination also served as a preview for the defense case, which
is expected to start Monday. Federal prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Joan
Lenard they intend to rest their case today or Friday.
Five defendants are fighting charges of spying for Cuba. Hernández is
specifically charged with conspiring to facilitate the shoot-down. Defense
attorneys do not dispute that their clients worked for Cuba. But they told
jurors in opening statements that the defendants spied to protect Cuba from
exile "terrorists.''
In his opening statement, McKenna pointed to Brothers' leader José
Basulto because he ignored repeated warnings not to violate Cuban airspace.
In his cross-examination Wednesday, McKenna stuck to that line and got
Leonard to acknowledge that Basulto and other Brothers pilots repeatedly flew
into Cuban airspace to drop anti-government propaganda or into designated danger
zones.
McKenna also used passages in a 94-page report by the U.N.'s International
Civil Aviation Organization to get Leonard to acknowledge the veracity of
Havana's warnings.
McKenna read sections quoting Cuban diplomatic notes to the U.S. State
Department dating from 1995 in which Havana warns that planes that violated
Cuban airspace would be shot down. McKenna also read passages indicating that
U.S. authorities relayed these warnings to Brothers.
Leonard acknowledged that a Cuban air-traffic controller on the day of the
shoot-down warned Basulto and other pilots that they were in the danger zone.
But instead of heeding the warning, Basulto gave the air-traffic controller
a speech asserting his "right'' to be in the area as a "free Cuban.''
"Is that the normal way to deal with air traffic control?'' McKenna
asked.
"I don't think it was egregious, but it was not good,'' Leonard
replied.
But when McKenna asked Leonard if Cuba had delivered a fair warning about
the shoot-down that Brothers deliberately ignored, Leonard disagreed.
"[The Cubans] had other options,'' Leonard said.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 