Despite tension, U.S. and Cuba abide by accord on boat people

Cuba says evidence shows it shot down planes over its waters

March 4, 1996
Web posted at: 11:30 p.m. EST (0430 GMT)

From Correspondent Lucia Newman

HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- The revolutionary rhetoric is back on the front page in Cuba -- where stories of the fatherland or death hadn't made an appearance in some time.

And the reason could be that the clock has been turned back to an earlier time when Washington and Havana spent their time baring their teeth at each other.

Monday morning the U.S. Coast Guard returned to Cuba a group of rafters found at sea on their way to Florida -- a sign that the migration agreements between Cuba and the United States are still being respected even after the downing of two planes flown by an anti-Castro group.

But the U.S. Congress is soon expected to pass new legislation nicknamed "Farewell Fidel" to punish the communist regime. And Cuba is on the defensive.

For the first time Cuban television broadcast a special program showing what the government insists is proof that the planes were shot down over Cuban waters and not, as Washington insists, over international waters.

While searching for possible survivors, Cuban helicopters and Coast Guard ships found a navigation chart, a bag and a battery charger allegedly belonging to the planes' pilots -- all within Cuban waters, Cuban officials said. The items were found the day after the shooting, they said.

On Wednesday, the president of Cuba's parliament will head a delegation to Montreal to present Cuba's evidence to the International Civil Aviation Organization, arguing that the downed planes were really flown by an organization that promotes terrorism.

"What makes a person or an airplane a military target?," said political analyst Juan Blanco. "The clothes they wear? The paint on the plane? The type of airplane? Or the mission they're carrying out?" (133K AIFF sound or 133K WAV sound)

Cuba also wants to show the world that it was defending its air space.

Wherever the planes may have fallen, most of world's public opinion has already condemned what has been called "excessive use of force." And as far as Washington is concerned, there's unlikely to be anything that can change that view.

Related Stories:

• Exile pilots brave foul weather, mourn comrades
• Castro takes responsibility for downing civilian planes
• U.S. jets couldn't have stopped Cuban shootdown, Pentagon says
• Cuban pilots cheered as planes exploded
• Clinton moves to punish Cuba for downing planes

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