21 May 2026
The 2014 May Day demonstration in Santiago de Cuba, with placard of the Miami 5 (centre, right) held up by trade unionists. Photo Workers.
On 20 May, the US government announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro and five other Cuban citizens in relation to the shooting down of an aircraft in 1996. Cuba supported by China, has condemned this a political move against its country.
Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel, rejected the charges as “a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation”. He described the 1996 action as an act of “legitimate self-defence”. He added that the US “knows full well – for there is abundant documentary evidence – that no reckless actions were taken, nor was international law violated”.
Terrorist
The downed plane was operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an anti-Cuban and anti-communist organisation based in the USA. The Cuban government describes it as a terrorist organisation, backed by US government agencies and led by a CIA-trained Cuban exile José Basulto.
At the time of the flight the Cuban government had been complaining to the US government about Basulto’s provocative activities.
Spying
Cuba had also been spying on the illegal activities of Brothers to the Rescue and similar organisations. Some of its agents, later known as the Miami Five, were arrested in 1998 and imprisoned.
They were released by President Obama in 2014, only after Cuba managed to convince the US government of the illegal activities of the Cuban émigrés the group had targeted.