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A message of defiance has been reverberating across Cuba following the indictment of former president Raúl Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian planes by the United States.
Cubans have rejected the allegations, describing them as hypocritical and have opposed foreign intervention, while accusing the US of attempting to use the indictment to justify military aggression.
The US accuses Castro of murder and destruction of aircraft over the February 24, 1996, shootdown of two small planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, which led to the deaths of four men on board.
A 61-year-old government official in Cuba’s capital, Havana, Rolando Mesa, dismissed the indictment.
“Ah, but nobody prosecutes US President Donald Trump. And besides, take the shooting down of those planes, for example. If it had been the other way around, if Cuba had sent those planes into the United States and we flew into Miami, what would happen? They’d shoot us down like clay pigeons with the Patriots. So, what are we talking about?,” he told AP.
A 43-year-old homemaker, Debrezei Barreras, questioned the rationale behind Castro’s indictment.
“There’s a different president in power today in Cuba, and I don’t think it’s necessary for anyone to go after a single individual and prosecute them for Cuba to change,” she said.
“I wouldn’t want a military intervention in Cuba, because my daughter is out in the streets, I’m out in the streets too, and I honestly don’t think a military intervention would be a good idea.”
Another Cuban, 38-year-old architect Rodny Amaguer, also rejected foreign involvement.
“I don’t think there’s any need for anyone from the outside to come in and solve problems that Cubans themselves, together with their government, should be capable of resolving. It’s as simple as that,” the architect told AP.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment as politically motivated and accused Washington of attempting to justify possible military aggression against the island.
The 1996 incident, which occurred near Havana after repeated airspace violations by Brothers to the Rescue, hardened US policy toward Cuba for decades.
The group, founded by Cuban exiles, had carried out numerous missions near the island.
The indictments have now revived one of the most contentious chapters in US-Cuba relations.
But on the streets of Havana, many Cubans say they will handle their own affairs without outside prosecutors or foreign intervention.
