Cuba disagrees with the US claim that Raúl Castro was responsible for an airplane crash in 1996

Cuba justifies its military action in 1996 by asserting that US aircraft repeatedly violated Cuban airspace despite numerous warnings.

The Government of Cuba strongly condemned what it called the US Department of Justice’s “despicable accusation” against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro. This made things worse between Havana and Washington over the shooting down of two civilian planes decades ago.

The Cuban Revolutionary Government in Havana said in a statement released on Wednesday that they did not agree with the reported legal action announced by the U.S. on May 20. They said that Washington did not have the “legitimacy and jurisdiction” to accuse Castro of the February 1996 incident involving planes operated by the Miami-based anti-Castro group Brothers to the Rescue.

The Cuban government said the plane had repeatedly violated Cuban airspace in the years before the event. They also said that what they did was legal under international law because it was “legitimate self-defense.”

The problem is with the fact that Cuban fighter jets shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, killing four people and drawing criticism from around the world at the time.

Reports say the planes were on tasks related to human rights work and supporting Cuban exiles.

Cuba said in its most recent statement that the U.S. ignored repeated warnings and formal complaints that it sent to U.S. authorities, such as the State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the International Civil Aviation Organization, between 1994 and 1996 about alleged violations of Cuban airspace.

Cuba said that Washington was changing the facts of history and ignoring the fact that the group had intentionally violated Cuban airspace more than 25 times during that time.

The statement also said that the U.S. government didn’t do anything even though Cuba warned them about what might happen if flights kept going near or over Cuban land.

Havana also said that the US had what it called “double standards” when it came to sovereignty and national security. It said that Washington would not stand for hostile foreign planes entering its airspace without permission.

The Cuban government also connected the charge against Castro to wider U.S. sanctions and the country’s longtime dislike of the communist-run island, calling the U.S. actions against Cuba “collective punishment” and an “energy blockade.”

The United States and Cuba have had tense relations for decades, which have been caused by political issues that go back to Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution in 1959.

There have been some attempts to improve relations between the two countries, but disagreements over human rights, penalties, migration, and security continue to make things difficult.

Officials in the United States had not yet given a full public response to Cuba’s new statement as of Wednesday evening.

At the end of its statement, Cuba said again that it supported Raúl Castro and would protect the country’s sovereignty and communist system.