A Justified Death: Brothers to the Rescue versus Cuba

1
A Justified Death Brothers to the Rescue versus
Cuba

• Stephen M. Hernandez
• December 5, 2000
• International Economics

2
History of Incidents Involving Aircraft between
Florida Cuba

• Jan. 1, 2000- A Vietnamese-American pilot dropped
  50,000 leaflets over Cuba, urging Cubans to
  overthrow Castro the pilot Ly Tong, later
  surrendered his U.S. pilots license.
• Aug. 16, 1996- Three Cubans escaped from Cuba
  aboard a single-engine plane that ran out of fuel
  30 miles west of Naples, Florida They were
  acquitted of hijacking charges.
• July 7, 1996- A Cuban military officer forced a
  Cuban plane carrying 16 people to fly to the U.S.
  Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

3
History of Incidents Involving Aircraft between
Florida Cuba, cont.

• May 8, 1994- Basilio Garcia Breto diverted his
  Cubana de Avacion airliner, with 16 passengers
  aboard, to Miami and asked for asylum.
• Dec. 29, 1992- Nearly 50 Cubans commandeered a
  plane during a flight from Havana to a Cuban
  resort and diverted it to Miami, where they asked
  for asylum.

4
Who are Brothers to the Rescue?

• Founded by Jose Basulto as a humanitarian effort
  to search the Florida Strait for Cuban refugees
  hoping to reach Florida in makeshift rafts and
  small boats.
• Have flown missions over Cuba distributing
  anti-Castro leaflets.
• Recently planned their own rescue effort for the
  downed Cuban plane over the waters of Florida and
  Cuba 18 people were on board.
• On Feb. 24, 1996 two small planes (two Cessna
  337s) belonging to BTTR were shot down at sea by
  Cuban fighter planes, killing the four civilians
  on board.

5
The Case for Cuba

• Cuba maintains that the planes violated its
  airspace and flew over land to scatter political
  pamphlets.
• Jose Basulto, founder of BTTR, recently had his
  license revoked because of his flights over Cuban
  territory.
• The order is based on FAA evidence of
  unauthorized operation into Cuban airspace by
  Basulto on July 13, 1995 and February 24, 1996.
• It is also based on his repeated ignoring of
  numerous warnings concerning his actions from the
  FAA and State Department.
• The U.S. says that on the day of the accident
  Basulto over flew Cuban waters but says the two
  Cessnas that were shot down did not.

6
The Case For The Victims Families

• The victims Miami families sued the federal
  government seeking to collect 187.6 million in
  compensatory and punitive damages assessed in a
  separate 1997 civil judgment.
• The families of the 3 men were awarded 188
  million in damages by a judge in 1997.
• In July 2000 the victims families rejected a
  proposed 50 million settlement because it does
  not serve as a deterrent nor are there punitive
  damages to the Cuban government.

7
The Case For The Victims Families, cont.

• However in October, under a bill President
  Clinton has promised to sign, the families of
  Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa and Mario de
  la Pena will receive 58 million in Cuban funds
  from ATT accounts frozen by the U.S. since the
  1960s.

• Relatives for the victims intend to use a portion
  of the money to establish a trust fund for Pablo
  Morales mother, who could not sue in federal
  court because he was not a U.S. citizen, and to
  create scholarships for children of Cuban rafters
  and fund other charities.

8
Current Litigation Involving Cuba

• The proposed settlement offered in July was
  offered as an alternative to two bills in
  Congress that would make it easier for people to
  collect civil court judgments from designated
  terrorist states, including Cuba and Iran.
• The bill would remove the presidents authority
  to block collection in the interest of national
  security.
• The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act
  of 1996 its purpose is to deter terrorism,
  provide justice for victims, provide for an
  effective death penalty, and for other purposes.

9
Current Litigation Involving Cuba, cont.

• Another provision of the AEDPA is for victims,
  and includes mandatory victim restitution for
  certain offenses.
• The act criminalizes financial contributions that
  are made to designated terrorist organizations,
  whether or not they are made for the peaceful or
  otherwise legal activities of the group.
• A legal resident alien, can be deported based on
  secret evidence.

10
New Measures on Cuban Flights

• The U.S. is expanding direct passenger charter
  flights as a way to facilitate family
  reunification and to promote licensed travel.
• Flights will now depart from other U.S cities and
  arrive in other authorized Cuban cities

• In addition to persons traveling once a year to
  visit close relatives, other licensable travel
  includes religious, educational, cultural and
  media activities, as well as human rights
  organizations.

11
Conclusion

• Efforts are being made by both sides of the
  spectrum to improve relations, in particular air
  travel.
• It is not legal for self interest groups to
  travel over unauthorized Cuban territory Would
  we allow the Chinese to do that to us?
• A different method of deterrence should be and
  should have been used by the Cuban government.
• Both sides learned valuable lessons from this
  tragic accident.