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(from @NatCounterPunch) #OpEd
Regime Change Through Indictment: Raรบl Castro and the BTTR Flights
by Binoy Kampmark
โThe indictment, which also nets five Cuban air force pilots, alleges that aircraft of the ostensibly humanitarian organisation BTTR (Brothers to the Rescue) were fired upon by Cuban MiG aircraft on February 24, 1996.
Three had taken off from South Florida heading to Cuba that day. Two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft were destroyed, allegedly flying outside Cuban territory. Three American citizens and one resident of the US were killed. The charges include one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, two counts of destruction of an aircraft and four counts of murder.
At the time, Castro was the Minister of Defence overseeing the Cuba Revolutionary Air and Air Defence Force (DAAFAR). He is said to have ordered the five pilots to follow and eliminate the three BTTR aircraft. The indictment does a superb job in making glaring omissions. There is no mention of the nervous mood of US officials at the time, notably those at the Federal Aviation Administration, State Department and White House.
No mention, either, of the compounding recklessness of the BTTR missions. The flights were intended to seek and assist Cubans sailing to the US and imperilled at sea. They were, however, unauthorised and deemed provocative to the Cuban government, not least because they also pursued a propaganda campaign in Cuban airspace.
FAA records made available by the invaluable offices of the National Security Archive and used in William LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluhโs Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana (2014) are not exactly glowing about the BTTR, led by its obstinate founder, Josรฉ Basulto.โ
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