Thirty years after the legitimate downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes, the US government is recycling a narrative with which, instead of seeking justice, it aims to justify hostility and aggression against Cuba.
This is demonstrated by declassified documents that dismantle the recent charges against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution, Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, according to the US organisation National Security Archive (NSA).
A month before the events, an official of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – Cecilia Capestany – informed her superiors via email that the State Department had called to get the agency to suspend the flights of José Basulto, leader of Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR).
The communication referred to the «new provocations to the Cuban Government» by BTTR overflights and the State Department’s concern over a «catastrophic scenario.»
It also mentioned a call from Deputy Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff to Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña to review the case against Basulto. «In her email, she describes the worst possible scenario: ‘that one day the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes and that the FAA will have everything under control’.»
«Emails, memos and FAA communications recorded the concern of senior Clinton administration officials that repeated incursions into Cuban airspace would eventually lead to a crisis if Cuba acted to protect its territorial integrity from BTTR’s provocative incursions,» the NSA acknowledges.
The declassified documents offer a detailed historical context of the events, while providing significant details about the events leading up to the downing of the planes on 24 February 1996.
IN CONTEXT (ACCORDING TO THE NSA):
«A year before the downing, the Cuban government filed multiple complaints about repeated violations of its airspace by BTTR aircraft, which overflew populated areas and dropped thousands of leaflets and other materials inciting popular insurrection against the government.»
«The FAA launched a lengthy investigation, met with BTTR president José Basulto, and repeatedly warned him not to continue his provocations. The agency took steps to suspend his pilot’s licence, but allowed him to continue flying, even when he repeatedly filed false flight plans.»
«Senior US officials, including Richard Nuccio, the White House’s senior advisor for Cuba, Deputy Secretary of State Peter Tarnoff, and Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña, repeatedly expressed to the FAA their concern about the permanent prohibition of BTTR flights and warned that Cuba’s red lines to protect its security should be taken seriously.»
Those «efforts to pressure the FAA to restrict Basulto’s activities failed. Only after the downing did the FAA issue a specific ‘cease and desist’ order against Basulto for what it called ‘negligent or reckless’ operations that ‘endangered the life or property of others’.» The FAA directive established that Basulto and BTTR «are hereby ordered, now and in the future, to cease and desist from operating any civil aircraft within the territorial airspace of the Republic of Cuba.»
HOW WERE THE DOCUMENTS OBTAINED?
Via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), for the 2014 book «Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations Between Washington and Havana», by William LeoGrande, Cuba specialist at American University, and Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the Archive.
«BACK CHANNEL TO CUBA», WHAT DOES IT REVEAL?
According to the NSA, the book detailed multiple attempts by Cuban leaders to get the Clinton administration to stop «the provocative BTTR flights.»
In January 1996 – the documents note – Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz reached a secret agreement with then-Congressman Bill Richardson to release several political prisoners in exchange for President Clinton grounding Basulto’s planes. However, in reality, Richardson «had spoken with other White House advisors, who then appealed to Secretary Peña to intercede with the FAA.»
«Back Channel to Cuba» demonstrates that the White House was aware of BTTR’s flight intentions.
On the night of 23 February, Richard Nuccio sent an email to National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, alerting him that Basulto planned to fly the next day. «José Basulto’s previous overflights of Brothers had been met with restraint by Cuban authorities,» he reported. «However, the tension in Cuba is so high that we fear this may finally lead the Cubans to attempt to shoot down or force the plane to land,» he warned.
«Nuccio called FAA officials in Miami and ordered them to block the flights. To his surprise, they refused. The FAA only agreed to warn Basulto, once again, about the consequences of violating Cuban airspace. In their book, the authors described the downing as ‘a Greek tragedy that unfolded in the skies over Cuba’.»
OTHER REVELATIONS FROM THE DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS:
In a summary of FAA meetings and communications prior to the downing, drafted by Michael Thomas, manager of the agency’s Flight Standards District Office in Miami, the multiple warnings sent to Basulto by FAA officials are described.
It also recounts a meeting with Richard Nuccio in August 1995 following a provocative BTTR overflight of Havana, during which thousands of leaflets and medals were dropped on the city. «A major concern is the possible downing of a BTTR aircraft by ground fire,» the text stated. «A subsequent State Department announcement cited the Cuban government’s ‘firm determination’ to defend its territorial integrity and airspace from unauthorised incursions.»
A chronology was also exposed, covering the interactions and communications between FAA officials and José Basulto between early 1995 and January 1996. It records repeated notices and warnings to BTTR to stop its violations of Cuban airspace, as well as «a bureaucratic inability to stop Basulto’s continuing provocations and address the Cuban government’s complaints about persistent violations of its airspace.»
Another FAA chronology details, «hour by hour, minute by minute, the fateful events of 24 February 1996.» The declassified documents include transcripts of communications between Cuban government air traffic controllers and Basulto and the other BTTR pilots:
«When Basulto extended a cordial ‘Brothers to the Rescue and its president, José Basulto’ greeting and announced that the planes would overfly northern Havana, the Cuban air traffic controller warned him that the area north of Havana was active and that he was in danger by entering that area of Route 24 North.»
«According to the transcript, Basulto responded: ‘We are aware of the danger we face every time we cross the area south of Route 24. But we are willing to do so as free Cubans.’ ‘Received,’ the Havana air traffic controller replied.»
