Havana, May 21 (IANS) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez condemned the US indictment of former Cuban leader Raul Castro, saying the move was intended to reinforce a “fraudulent narrative” to justify intensified aggression against the Cuban people.
Rodriguez said on X on Wednesday (local time) that the US accusation against Raul Castro was “illegitimate and illegal,” and the act was based on lies and ignored documented historical facts about the 1996 downing of two aircraft operated by “Brothers to the Rescue,” a Cuban exile group in the United States.
Havana maintains that the aircraft were shot down in Cuban airspace and that Cuba acted in legitimate self-defence.
The foreign minister also accused Washington of being complicit in organising and carrying out violent actions against Cuba, while denouncing what he called extrajudicial executions of nearly 200 people by US forces in international waters in the Caribbean and the Pacific for alleged links to drug trafficking.
“Cuba will not renounce its inalienable right to legitimate defence,” said Rodriguez, reaffirming firm support for Raul Castro and Cuba’s unwavering commitment to defending the homeland, the revolution and socialism.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment charging former Cuban leader Raul Castro and five others in connection with the Cuban military’s downing of two aircraft operated by “Brothers to the Rescue” 30 years ago.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that the charges by the US government against Cuban Revolution leader Raul Castro are a “political manoeuver” with no legal basis whatsoever.
Diaz-Canel said on X on Wednesday (local time) that the charges “only reveal the arrogance and frustration of the empire’s representatives in the face of the unwavering resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.”
Diaz-Canel said the indictment is intended “solely to enlarge the file they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”
Washington “is lying and manipulating the events surrounding the downing of the small planes belonging to the narco-terrorist organisation Brothers to the Rescue,” he said.
The president recounted what happened on February 24, 1996, saying Cuba acted “in legitimate self-defence” within its territorial waters after members of the Miami-based group repeatedly violated the island country’s airspace, reports Xinhua news agency.
Cuba issued more than a dozen warnings about the violations, “but (the US government) ignored the warnings and allowed the violations to continue,” he said, adding that “documentary evidence” demonstrated that Cuba did not act “recklessly” or violate international law.
Castro, “as a guerrilla leader and statesman, won the love of his people, in addition to the respect and admiration of other leaders in the region and the world. These values are his best defence and a moral shield against the ridiculous attempt to diminish his stature as a hero,” Diaz-Canel said.
–IANS
sd/
