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March 18, 2002.
Crash probe grounds Cuban planes
Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer. Sat Mar 16, 6:08
PM ET
BAEZ, Cuba - Cuba has grounded about 100 Soviet-made biplanes for passenger
flights pending a investigation into why an Antonov AN-2 crashed on a tourist
outing, killing 12 foreigners and four Cubans, the head of the country's civil
aviation institute said Saturday.
Standing by the small reservoir where the single-engine Soviet-made plane
crashed Thursday, Gen. Rogelio Acevedo said a preliminary investigation
indicated the accident occurred when the top part of the left wing was ripped
off in high winds, causing the aircraft to spiral down out of control.
Witnesses told investigators the plane was flying at about 3,000 feet when a
strong wind apparently snapped off the top part of the left wing, sending the
craft into a downward spin, said Acevedo.
Since the accident, "all passenger flights with this type of craft have
been canceled," said Acevedo. He did not say for how long the planes would
be grounded.
Investigators drained most of the reservoir's water and to collect the
plane's parts.
Acevedo said the crash in this rural community just south of Santa Clara,
the capital of the central province of Villa Clara, was the first fatal accident
involving an Antonov AN-2 in the 41 years they have been used in Cuba.
Officials identified the dead foreigners as a German couple, four Cubans,
four Britons and six Canadians, including two children.
The AN-2 model planes are used in Cuba as crop-dusters and to fumigate urban
areas for mosquitos. As tourism to the communist island has increased over the
past decade, the biplanes have been used more for passenger flights.
Acevedo said the crash took place 35 minutes into the flight from the
central city of Cienfuegos, where the group visited a marine park featuring
trained dolphins. It was heading to Cayo Coco, in the keys north of the main
island where the tourists were staying.
He suggested there was no evidence of any pilot error in the crash, saying
no pilot could have controlled the craft after it went into a downward spiral.
Divers Retrieve Bodies in Cuba Crash
By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 15, 6:59
PM ET
BAEZ, Cuba - Divers retrieved the bodies of 16 people, including a dozen
foreigners, from a small reservoir in central Cuba Friday as officials tried to
determine what caused the Soviet-made biplane to crash.
Everyone aboard the single-engine Antonov AN-2 were killed when it went down
Thursday afternoon near this small community just south of Santa Clara, the
capital of Villa Clara province about 165 miles east of Havana.
Farmer Ramon Sampiero said he was feeding his pigs when he saw the plane
start to lower in the sky.
"I saw it fly very low, but did not hear it crash," he said.
Another local resident, Ramona Montero, 36, said the craft was spinning as
it went down. She also said she heard no explosion.
Officials identified the dead as a German couple, four Cubans, four Britons
and six Canadians, including two children ages 5 and 6.
The crash occurred as the chartered aircraft traveled from the central city
of Cienfuegos to Cayo Coco, a resort in the keys stretching along the main
island's northern coast, where all the victims were staying.
Metal parts and other debris from the plane were scattered across the yards
of the modest farm homes near the reservoir, which is used to irrigate crops in
the region.
Divers in two boats retrieved the bodies and plane wreckage as dozens of
police, firefighters and military officials surrounded the area, many trying to
find answers to the crash.
Fire trucks, cranes and other emergency vehicles moved around the reservoir
across rolling hills dotted with farm homes, crops and the local cemetery. A
military helicopter buzzed overhead.
Seven cars carrying caskets left the area around daybreak.
The AN-2 model, the world's largest biplane, was operated by the small local
charter company Aerotaxi. The telephone at the company's Havana office rang
unanswered Friday.
In the past, some AN-2 planes were used by Soviet paratroopers, but most
were used as small passenger planes that traveled within the former Soviet
Union.
U.S. government pursues criminal charges in Cuba embargo case
By Maryclaire Dale. Associated Press Writer. Friday March
15, 5:52 pm Eastern Time
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In a rare criminal case involving the U.S. trade
embargo with Cuba, federal prosecutors hope to prove a U.S.-based company
skirted the 1960 ban by selling goods through foreign middlemen.
Both sides agree that chemicals used to purify and soften water made their
way to Cuba from plants owned, directly or indirectly, by the Brotech Corp.,
based in the outskirts of Philadelphia.
However, they disagree on whether the sales were designed to violate the
embargo.
"No one intended to violate United States laws to make money in Cuba,"
Kevin Downey, a Washington lawyer representing Brotech, said in opening
statements Friday in U.S. District Court.
The 77-count federal indictment charges that Brotech and four executives --
including owners Stefan E. Brodie, 58, and his brother, Donald B. Brodie, 54 --
sold $2.1 million worth of chemicals to Cuba from 1992 to 2000.
The company hid references to Cuba on invoices and other paperwork after an
outside auditor warned them about the sales in 1993, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Joseph Poluka told jurors.
According to prosecutors, Brotech shipped the chemicals to Canadian and
Mexican companies which forwarded them to Cuba. The chemicals, called ion
exchange resins, are used by the petroleum, sugar and pharmaceutical industries,
among others.
The trial comes amid calls for an end to the embargo. Many U.S. companies
are eager to sell their goods in the Communist country just 90 miles (145
kilometers) from the southern tip of Florida.
Cubans can already purchase many American products, from Coca-Cola to
Winston cigarettes, defense lawyers said Friday. The products are generally
available through foreign distributors of U.S. goods.
"Some of the laws ought to be changed to make it easier for Americans
to invest in a market that the rest of the world can invest in, because the
embargo clearly hasn't worked," said Brian Alexander, policy director of
the Cuba Policy Foundation, a Washington-based anti-embargo group.
Brotech also owns 95 percent of a company called Purolite International,
based in the United Kingdom.
Some of the chemicals sold to Cuba were made in Wales and fulfilled by the
Canadian sales office, without the involvement of any U.S. employees, Downey
said.
The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
The trade-embargo counts carry a possible penalty of 10 years in prison and
a fine of $250,000 each and the conspiracy charges up to five years and a
$250,000 fine each.
On the Net:
Office of Foreign Assets Control:
http://www.treas.gov/ofac
Cuba
Policy Foundation: http://www.cubapolicyfoundation.org
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