FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The indictment in the United States against Raul Castro reopens one of the most dramatic pages of the long Caribbean cold war between Washington and the Castro regime.
For decades, US presidents from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama tried to defuse the conflict with Havana. But according to new US analyses and documents, the Castro regime responded to every attempt at rapprochement with repression, provocation and violence. Today, the indictment of 94-year-old Raúl Castro brings back to the forefront one of the darkest episodes in modern Cuban history: the shooting down of two US civilian airliners in 1996.
The incrimination in the United States of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro has brought back into focus one of the most serious wounds in relations between Washington and the Cuban communist regime.
The case concerns the shooting down, on February 24, 1996, of two civilian aircraft belonging to the anti-Castro organization “Brothers to the Rescue” (“Hermanos al Rescate”), which were shot down by Cuban military MiG fighter jets over the Florida Straits. Four people were killed in the attack: three American citizens and one permanent resident of the United States.
For the Cuban exile community in Miami, the event remained an open wound for decades. Today, the US Department of Justice claims that the order to shoot down the planes came from the military chain of command headed by Raúl Castro, who at the time was Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the second most powerful man in the regime after Fidel Castro.
But this story goes beyond a military incident. It represents the repeated failure of every American attempt to normalize relations with Cuba and the ongoing clash between American diplomacy and the repressive logic of the Castro regime.
In the mid-1990s, Cuba was going through one of the most dramatic moments since the 1959 revolution. The Soviet Union had collapsed, subsidies from Moscow had ended, and the Cuban economy was plunging into the crisis known as the "special period."
It was an era of food shortages, power outages, industrial paralysis, and mass escapes to the U.S. Thousands of Cubans attempted to reach Florida in primitive floating craft.
In this climate, the organization “Brothers to the Rescue” was born, founded by José Basulto, a former pilot and Cuban immigrant. Initially, the organization had a humanitarian mission: the search and rescue of Cuban refugees at sea.
But over time, flights near Cuban airspace also took on a political character. On several occasions, the planes dropped anti-Castro leaflets over Havana, which the Cuban regime considered a direct provocation.
Në atë kohë, presidenti amerikan Bill Clinton po përpiqej të ndiqte një qasje më pragmatike ndaj Kubës. Ai nuk ishte gati të hiqte embargon, por kërkonte hapësira për dialog dhe zbutje tensionesh.
Pas krizës së emigrantëve kubanë në vitin 1994, SHBA dhe Kuba kishin nisur edhe negociata për çështjet migratore. Clinton besonte se izolimi total nuk kishte prodhuar rezultat dhe se hapja graduale ekonomike e diplomatike mund të sillte transformim të brendshëm në sistemin kuban.
Ishte një strategji që ngjante me qasjen amerikane ndaj Kinës postmaoiste: më shumë kontakte, më shumë treg, më shumë shkëmbime kulturore dhe ekonomike, me shpresën se sistemi autoritar do të zbutjej gradualisht.
Por kjo strategji u përplas me logjikën e regjimit të Castrove.
Më 24 shkurt 1996 ndodhi tragjedia që ndryshoi gjithçka.
Dy avionë Cessna të “Brothers to the Rescue” u interceptuan nga avionë kubanë MiG-29 dhe MiG-23. Pilotët kubanë lëshuan raketa ajër-ajër që shkatërruan avionët civilë. Një avion i tretë arriti të arratisej.
Debati kryesor lidhej me vendin ku ndodhi sulmi. Kuba pretendoi se avionët kishin hyrë në hapësirën e saj ajrore. SHBA deklaroi se avionët ndodheshin në ujëra ndërkombëtare.
Hetimet e mëvonshme të Organizatës Ndërkombëtare të Aviacionit Civil mbështetën versionin amerikan: sulmi kishte ndodhur jashtë hapësirës ajrore kubane.
Për Uashingtonin, kjo ishte një tronditje politike dhe morale. Jo vetëm sepse u vranë qytetarë amerikanë, por sepse ngjarja u interpretua si ekzekutim i qëllimshëm ndaj civilëve të paarmatosur.
Regjistrimet audio të publikuara vite më vonë tregonin pilotët kubanë duke festuar pas lëshimit të raketave. Dokumente të deklasifikuara dhe hetime mediatike pretendojnë gjithashtu se Raúl Castro kishte urdhëruar rrëzimin e avionëve “në det”, pa pritur autorizime të tjera.
Pasojat politike për Bill Clinton ishin katastrofike.
Çdo tentativë për afrimin me Kubën u shkatërrua brenda pak orësh. Pak muaj më vonë, Clinton firmosi ligjin Helms-Burton, i cili forcoi embargon amerikane ndaj Kubës dhe e ktheu pjesën më të madhe të sanksioneve në ligj federal, duke e bërë shumë më të vështirë heqjen e tyre nga presidentët pasardhës.
Në vend që të përfitonte nga një mundësi për zbutjen e izolimit ekonomik, regjimi kuban zgjodhi përplasjen dhe konfrontimin ideologjik.
Ky model, sipas shumë analistëve amerikanë, është përsëritur vazhdimisht gjatë dekadave.
Sa herë që nga Uashingtoni ka ardhur një tentativë për hapje, regjimi kuban është përgjigjur me represion, arrestime apo ashpërsim të retorikës antiamerikane.
Për regjimin kastrist, konflikti me SHBA ka qenë jo një problem, por një instrument mbijetese politike. Embargoja dhe “kërcënimi amerikan” janë përdorur për dekada për të justifikuar kontrollin policor, mungesën e pluralizmit dhe shtypjen e opozitës.
While part of the international left continued to see Fidel Castro as a romantic symbol of resistance against the US, international human rights organizations documented arbitrary arrests, censorship, imprisonment of dissidents, and repression of political opponents.
Cuba wasn't just literacy and a free healthcare system. It was also a political prison, total state control over public life, a ban on pluralism, and the elimination of independent media.
Even Barack Obama tried to change course.
In 2014, he announced the normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba and in 2016 made a historic visit to Havana, ending over half a century of diplomatic freeze.
Obama's strategy was similar to Clinton's: more economic openness, more tourism, more internet and human contacts, with the hope that Cuban society would gradually push the regime towards political reforms.
But this attempt also failed.
The Cuban regime benefited economically from the opening, but showed no real willingness for political liberalization. The security apparatus remained intact, while arrests of opponents and activists continued.
After the mass protests of July 2021, the Cuban government once again restored the harshest face of the regime: mass arrests, expedited trials, and severe punishments for protesters.
Today, the indictment against Raúl Castro has more symbolic than legal value. At 94 years old, it is almost impossible for the former Cuban leader to actually end up in a US court.
But the political message is clear: for the US, the downing of two civilian airliners in 1996 was not a Cold War incident, but a deliberate act against civilians.
And for many Americans, that event remains proof that behind the revolutionary myth of Fidel and Raúl Castro lay an authoritarian system built on fear, repression, and political survival at all costs. / Adapted from "Corriere Della Sera"
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