The Revolutionary Government condemns in the strongest terms the despicable accusation by the United States Department of Justice, announced on May 20 and foreshadowed for several weeks, against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution.
The United States government lacks the legitimacy and jurisdiction to carry out this action. This is a despicable and infamous act of political provocation, based on the dishonest manipulation of the incident that led to the downing, in February 1996, of two aircraft operated by the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue over Cuban airspace. Brothers to the Rescue’s repeated violations of Cuban airspace for hostile purposes were common knowledge.
The U.S. government also distorts other historical truths about the event it uses as a pretext. Among other details, it omits the numerous formal complaints filed by Cuba during that period with the State Department, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regarding more than 25 serious and deliberate violations of Cuban airspace committed by the aforementioned organization between 1994 and 1996, in blatant transgression of international law and U.S. law itself.
It also ignores the public and official warnings issued by Cuban authorities regarding the inadmissibility of such violations of its airspace and the alerts sent directly to the President of the United States concerning the seriousness and potential consequences of such transgressions.
Cuba’s response to the violation of its airspace constituted an act of legitimate self-defense, protected by the Charter of the United Nations, the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and the principles of air sovereignty and proportionality.
The United States, which has been a victim of the use of civil aviation for terrorist purposes, does not and would not permit the hostile and provocative violation of its territory by foreign aircraft and would act, as it has demonstrated, with the use of force.
The inaction of the U.S. government in the face of the alerts issued by Cuba at the time revealed its complicity in the planning and execution, from its territory, of violent, illegal, and terrorist acts against the Cuban government and people—a recurring and systematic practice from the triumph of the Revolution to the present day.
It is utterly cynical that this accusation is being made by the same government that has murdered nearly 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from U.S. territory, using disproportionate military force, for alleged links to drug trafficking operations that have never been proven. This government classifies these acts as extrajudicial killings, in accordance with international law, and as murders, according to U.S. law itself.
This spurious accusation against the Leader of the Cuban Revolution adds to the desperate attempts by anti-Cuban elements to construct a fraudulent narrative in an effort to justify the collective and merciless punishment of the noble Cuban people through the strengthening of unilateral coercive measures, including the unjust and genocidal energy blockade and threats of armed aggression.
Cuba reaffirms its commitment to peace and its firm determination to exercise the inalienable right to self-defense, recognized by the Charter of the United Nations.
The Cuban people reaffirm their unwavering commitment to defend the Homeland and its Socialist Revolution and, with the utmost strength and resolve, their unrestricted and unwavering support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Patria o Muerte! Homeland or Death!
Venceremos! We will win!
Havana, May 20, 2026.
“Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.”
