Cuba: The World’s Most Terrorist Country, or the “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”

By Maribel Acosta Damas on July 2, 2026

There was once a very hungry wolf who saw a flock of sheep. One day, he found a sheepskin in the forest and came up with an idea to trick the shepherd. /“I’ll disguise myself with this sheepskin. That way, the sheep and the shepherd will think I’m just another sheep.” / And his plan worked. At dusk, the wolf was led into the barn with the rest of the sheep. The wolf licked his lips, thinking of the great feast he would have that night. But when night fell, the shepherd entered the barn looking for meat for dinner. And, believing the wolf was a sheep, he picked him up and took him away. -Aesop

(Moral: Those who set many traps end up falling into them)

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo is a graduate in International Relations and a cartoonist, a Hero of the Republic of Cuba, and National Coordinator of the island’s largest grassroots organization, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), founded by Fidel Castro in 1960. He was one of five young Cuban revolutionaries who infiltrated anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Miami, known internationally as “The Five.” Arrested in 1998 in the United States, he was sentenced to two life sentences, including one for his alleged participation in a conspiracy to shoot down the small planes of the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue, which repeatedly violated U.S. airspace and were shot down in 1996 over Cuban territory. His espionage case—a wholly political trial—proved that he never threatened U.S. security.

Maribel Acosta Damas– I want to begin with some of the most significant recent news regarding U.S. actions toward Cuba in areas of potential aggression: the indictment of Raúl Castro, with the threat of a trial, for the downing of the two small planes belonging to the Miami-based terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996; the visit to Cuba by John Ratcliffe, director of the CIA, last May; the Trump administration’s announcement that it has included the Cuban CDRs on its list of banned organizations and individuals, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to the Guantánamo Naval Base (Cuban territory illegally occupied by the United States) this past June. How should we interpret all these developments, some of which appear contradictory and are even unprecedented in the nearly 70 years of the Cuban Revolution?

Gerardo Hernández– Clearly, these moves are not coincidental. I’ll start by dusting off some files: Brothers to the Rescue and the new accusation against Raúl Castro. We need to put this in context.

The U.S. government wants pretexts—perhaps even for an act of aggression against Cuba. What pretexts can it find? Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, even though everyone knows that the previous Biden administration removed Cuba from that list because there was no evidence.

However, any observer would ask, why are these people coming forward now with an accusation against Raúl Castro for an incident that occurred 30 years ago? And, once again, we must put this in context. They are looking for pretexts against Cuba, such as, for example, that Cuba supported Colombia’s FARC. But successive Colombian governments have recognized Cuba’s important role in mediating to resolve the conflict and appreciate Cuba’s participation. Or they say, for example, that Cuba harbored ETA terrorists. But at the time, Spain also thanked Cuba for its collaboration in this other conflict. In short, there is absolutely no reason to keep Cuba on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. This is a fact acknowledged by U.S. intelligence agencies themselves.

And they know it, but once again, these people belong to what we call the “hate industry”—take María Elvira Salazar, of Cuban origin, a staunch advocate for tightening the blockade against Cuba; or Mario Lincoln Díaz-Balart, also of Cuban origin—both U.S. congressmen. He comes from a family with a very long history of hatred toward Cuba—enough to fill a novel. The congressman’s father was Fidel Castro’s brother-in-law and supported him in his day. Later, due to political issues—but also, in many ways, family issues—he became one of Fidel Castro’s main enemies; he was the founder of the terrorist organization that planned violent actions against Cuba, La Rosa Blanca; considered the parent organization of the counterrevolution and terrorism directed from the United States toward the island.

It’s a long story—we can’t summarize it in an interview—but we do tell people that, rather than simply believing whatever a headline might say, they should seek out information and find out who these figures are, why some people in Miami harbor such hatred toward Cuba, where that animosity comes from, and why a segment of that so-called “exile” community of Cubans in Miami exhibits these characteristics.

I lived in Miami for many years and was there when earthquakes struck Mexico; I saw how the Mexican community came together to gather aid for their country and their people. It didn’t matter whether you supported the Calderón administration or the Fox administration; or whether you were for or against the government; or whether you belonged to the National Action Party (PAN) or the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). What mattered was that you were Mexican and came together to help your country, Mexico, and its people. Why doesn’t that happen with Cubans? Why is it that when a hurricane strikes Cuba and destroys half the island, Cubans in Miami advocate—as they put it—against sending even a single aspirin to Cuba because that helps the government; not even a can of fuel, because that helps the government; not even medicine, because that benefits the government?

In Latin American emigration, the most common thing is to go to the United States in search of a better life, because that’s the siren song they sell you: arriving in the United States in search of a better life, earning dollars, and as soon as they get their first paycheck—as they say—as soon as they receive their first salary, they’re already sending money to their family back home.

Ah, how do they send it? Through Western Union or another agency… but anyway, Western Union is perhaps the most symbolic and natural choice for a Nicaraguan, a Mexican, a Salvadoran, a Chilean… it’s about arriving in the United States, earning a little money, and sending it to their family through one of these agencies.

What about the Cubans?

What about the Cubans? Cuban emigration emerged primarily as a business venture for the elites of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship who fled to the United States following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. And over many years, this business of waging war against Cuba has, among its tenets—whether you accept them or not—the pressure to turn you into a hater of your country of origin… so that, if you do certain things sanctioned by this industry, you’re a traitor—in quotes, of course; you’re a traitor to the cause—but not only are you a traitor, Western Union won’t do business with you because Western Union is banned for Cuba. In other words, it’s an exile—in quotes—that has very specific characteristics because it has been hijacked by the industry of hatred against Cuba.

From my time living in Miami, I remember one particularly painful experience: being in my apartment, tuning in to the radio, and hearing an interview with Augusto Pinochet’s daughter on 710 Radio Mambí—received with great fanfare—as she spoke of the virtues of her father’s government. It was a program on a Cuban radio station run by the very émigré community I was referring to. The sponsor was Armando Pérez Roura, who claimed to be fighting for Cuba’s freedom. So, for me—having just arrived in Miami to carry out my mission but not yet very well-versed in these matters of the so-called exile community or these issues—I couldn’t understand how someone who claims to be fighting for Cuba’s freedom would have Augusto Pinochet’s daughter on his program, praise the “good” he did for Chile, and aspire to have an Augusto Pinochet for Cuba.

I mention all this because it explains the historical context of what we’re experiencing today: a very powerful Cuban-American lobby in Miami that is committed to the most reactionary elements of the “exile” movement—in quotes—and believes it has a mandate to “liberate” Cuba. And I’m not referring to the vast majority of Cubans—I know many of them—neighbors, even relatives who have left Cuba in search of better economic opportunities, who have settled there, and who haven’t gotten involved in politics.

The Five were imprisoned in different prisons for 16 years, alongside many people from many countries, including Cuban rafters (irregular migrants traveling by sea), Cubans who had left via Mariel, Cubans who had arrived through the Bombo (lotteries held by the U.S. Embassy to grant permission to leave Cuba)—and we never had a single problem with anyone. People ask us: “But how is it possible that, if you were five people defending Cuba—who were accused of being spies, and who were found in a trial to have been defending Cuba—how is it possible that you were imprisoned with so many Americans, with so many people from other countries,

but with so many Cubans who ‘fled’ Cuba, and yet you haven’t had a single problem in prison in 16 years? Given the level of violence in prisons—stabbings, murders—and the fact that you haven’t had a single altercation in prison, why is that?

I can answer that: because the vast majority of Cubans who leave Cuba do so for economic reasons, lured by false promises. They arrive in the United States thinking life is one way, only to realize it’s another; they have to find a way to survive, and some, unfortunately, end up making mistakes that land them in prison; but when they were in prison and met these five people there, they’d say: “Well, hold on—I’m in prison because I made a mistake, or even because I didn’t like the system in Cuba, but what you were doing was defending my family in Cuba, defending the Cuban people—and my family is still in Cuba—so I have to respect what you were doing.”

Why am I giving this example? Because you can’t understand what exile—in quotes—in the United States is like if you don’t understand the diversity of opinions and the dictatorship that exists in that city: When a singer comes here to pursue an artistic career, that’s not enough. They say: “Wait a minute, yeah, yeah, I know you’re a singer, I know you’ve come here to make a living through your art, but here in Miami you can’t do that—here you have to define yourself politically first and make it very clear whether you’re for or against the ‘Cuban dictatorship.’ Because otherwise, you can’t have a career.” I could give countless examples of people who bought into the myth of the “land of freedom” and said: “In Cuba, they didn’t force me to take a stand in order to be a singer, an artist, or to perform in theater or in a movie.” I wasn’t forced to say whether I was against the embargo or not; I wasn’t forced to say whether I liked Fidel or not. I simply performed and appeared on television, and I believed I was a famous artist. So I left for Miami, only to find that once I arrived there, I really do have to take a stand—and I really do have to say, ‘Am I against the embargo or not?’ Am I against the ‘Cuban dictatorship’ or not? Because if I don’t, I won’t have a career. And we already know which side we have to choose.

We’re talking about a city where the Cuban orchestra Van Van comes to perform—an icon of Cuban culture—and they have to mobilize the Florida National Guard to protect the audience and the musicians because there are protests, there are attacks, and people are throwing bottles. Why? Simply because it’s an orchestra based in Cuba.

We’ve reached the year 2026 with an administration that appealed to Cuban-American voters with the promise that we’re going to fight for a free Cuba

So, in this whole context, here we are in 2026 with an administration that appealed to Cuban-American voters with the promise that we’re going to fight for a free Cuba—something every U.S. president has done—and this administration did so with even greater emphasis; it includes some so-called Cuban-American members of Congress who have also promised that this administration will fight for a free Cuba. The midterms are approaching, and Cuba remains a socialist country fighting to uphold its Revolution, so they ask themselves: “Well, what are we going to do now…?”

So, what do they come up with? Reviving the small plane case

The 1996 case of the downing of the small planes—with what narrative? “Cuba shot down two small planes belonging to a pacifist humanitarian organization that was rescuing rafters in the Florida Strait. It shot them down in international waters.” That’s the version they present. And since Cuba shot them down, and since Raúl Castro was the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), well, Raúl Castro is to blame and we can take him to court. And this is the logic behind that false narrative.

First, we should recall recent events: in what waters have the United States attacked vessels in recent months? There have already been more than 200 deaths on small boats—vessels that the United States destroys with missiles based on the mere suspicion that they are drug traffickers. No one has verified this. It’s just what they say. We don’t know if they were fishermen; we don’t know their life stories; we don’t know if one of their sons—a minor—was on board; we don’t know if the boat owner’s wife was on board.

The United States believed it had the right to fire a rocket, kill them all, and that’s it. There’s no trial, no arrest, no due process, no lawyers, no presumption of innocence—there’s nothing. It is the United States that assumes the right to do this in the Caribbean just as it does in the Pacific—in any ocean—because it considers them a threat to its national security.

That is evidence of its actions that no one can deny. And so what does the United States say about Cuba? Well, that in 1996 Cuba had no right to shoot down civilian light aircraft that had violated Cuban airspace on numerous occasions. For anyone who wants to look for information or review public records, there are at least 16 diplomatic notes from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the U.S. government denouncing that organization, Brothers to the Rescue—founded and led by a terrorist—for systematically violating Cuba’s airspace.

Those small planes would take off from the United States, head toward Cuba, and fly over Havana… Right now we’re talking in a neighborhood in Havana, and right over this very neighborhood, in the sky, those small planes were flying, dropping things down below: papers, propaganda, medals… They believed they had the right to do so.

They endangered international aviation, they endangered the Cuban population, they violated U.S. laws, they violated Cuban laws, they violated international aviation laws. And what happened? Cuba did not act with the determination that any other country would have shown from the outset. Cuba scrambled its self-defense aircraft, warned them, escorted them out, issued a note of protest to U.S. authorities, and notified international civil aviation.

No one did anything. And this happened over and over again. There are 16 diplomatic notes as evidence of this.

What is the history of Brothers to the Rescue?

The history of the terrorist organization Brothers to the Rescue, as they claim, is that it was created to rescue rafters in the Florida Straits—rafters fleeing Cuba, so to speak, toward the United States. They would arrive there; they would be received or rescued at sea, taken to the United States, and automatically become the only immigrants in the world who, upon arriving by any means—by plane, by air, by sea, by land, by underground tunnel, wherever they arrive— and you say: “I’m Cuban, and I’m fleeing the regime and seeking freedom”—they automatically take you in, and one year and one day later, they give you all your documents.

Now, a side note: Tell any Mexican, Guatemalan, Uruguayan—anyone—that if they arrive in the United States by any means, legal or illegal, and say, “I’m here seeking freedom,” they’ll be given documents immediately. That applies only to Cubans. Then there’s the figure of José Basulto, a Cuban-born terrorist implicated in organizing the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, who was already, at that time, a young man trained by the CIA.

He admitted all of this himself, and there is also evidence and recordings of him stating what I am about to explain: he was trained by the CIA in combat and sabotage and infiltrated into Cuba to carry out acts of terrorism that would divert attention when the Bay of Pigs—or Playa Girón—invasion took place in 1961. Diverting attention through violent acts was his mission. The invasion, as everyone knows, failed. Basulto fled and made it to the United States, but in 1962 he returned to Cuba in a speedboat with another person. He approached the Cuban coast and fired a cannon at the building that is now the Sierra Maestra, next to what is today the Carlos Marx Theater.

He approached the hotel, fired a cannon… there are recordings of him doing it! He admits he did it, that even the driver told him, “Let me shoot too!” and he let him shoot as well—at least 15 shells were fired. When asked about it, he said, “Well, there were Russians there, and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” In other words, he never once apologized or expressed regret for it.

He came in a speedboat and fired a cannon at a hotel. He returned to La Florida, held a press conference—which is also in public archives and can be found in the press coverage from that time—where he boasted about what he had done. Now, that same person, a few years later, claims to be a pacifist, saying he wants to change the reality in Cuba through peaceful means, but Cuban agents infiltrated in that organization know that’s not true. They know he wanted to buy a fighter jet in the former Czechoslovakia.

Our agent within that organization knows that he was planning to smuggle explosives into Cuba to blow up power towers. They know—and this was also revealed at the trial of The Five—that he was planning to build a homemade weapon, albeit rudimentary, that could kill people, and that he was considering the possibility of mass-producing it to smuggle it into Cuba.

That evidence was presented at the trial of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters. It is supported by FBI documentation, which he cannot deny. So he says: “Well, yes, I admit we were trying to produce this weapon,” and my lawyer asks him: “But what was it for?” He replies with utter cynicism: “It was to throw at the rafters, so they could kill fish or birds during their sea crossing to eat them.”

And my lawyer, who had a good sense of humor, says to him: “I suppose you were also going to throw them a stove so they could cook the fish or birds… Why didn’t you just throw them some food instead?” All of that was evidence in the trial of The Five. Now then, how did Brothers to the Rescue come about? What did they do at first? While they were rescuing rafters, they had no problems with Cuba.

They’d take off in their small planes from Florida, spot the rafters on the high seas, drop water and food to help them hold out a few more hours, call the U.S. Coast Guard, the Coast Guard would arrive, pick them up, and take them to the United States. Congratulations! Everyone was happy. A commendable effort.

And, as a result, it stirred the emotions of a large part of the exile community. People like the musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan donated a small plane to José Basulto. Many people donated money. So José Basulto bought planes—in addition to buying real estate—he bought planes and acquired a much larger hangar. Those were the golden days of Brothers to the Rescue, with so many donations for the humanitarian cause. They appeared on major TV shows and in large-scale radio and TV marathons.

What happened in 1995? New immigration agreements were negotiated with the Clinton Administration

What did the new immigration agreements say? The “dry foot, wet foot” policy. If I rescue a raft survivor in the water, I don’t bring them to the United States—I send them back to Cuba. That changed the rules of the game.

What started to happen? Brothers to the Rescue would take off in their planes, spot a raft, call the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard would go, pick them up, and send them back to Cuba. So people—Basulto’s donors—would say: “Wait a minute, why should I give you money? Why should I keep supporting you and contributing to your cause?” If, when you do what you’re going to do, you’re practically snitching on the rafters. They’re sending them back to Cuba—they’re not bringing them to Miami.” And that’s when the bad publicity started—a bad reputation for Brothers to the Rescue.

Donations stopped, contributions stopped, publicity stopped, and the business came to a halt. And right away—we also demonstrated this during the Five trial with José Basulto’s tax returns—his income plummeted; he had to sell houses, he had to sell planes, and his story became much less appealing.

But Basulto, who is acamaján trained by the CIA—highly experienced and accustomed to making a living from the counterrevolutionary business—wasn’t going to give up so easily. What did he do? He said to himself: “Ah, well, there aren’t many rafters now, but I’m going to keep flying the planes I have left, and I’m going to start getting involved inside Cuba.”

At that time, there was an organization called the Cuban Council.

M.A.D.—We’re talking about the ’90s…

Gerardo Hernández– Yes, from the ’90s through ’96. Throughout the history of the Revolution, the United States has been supporting counterrevolutionary groups. They did so through the CIA, which backed the insurgents in the Sierra del Escambray in the center of the island; they supported the internal counterrevolution through acts of sabotage; and they certainly began supporting groups that were, so to speak, “dissidents.” And one of those groups was called Concilio Cubano.

Why? Because there were many different organizations of the so-called “opposition” living off American aid, but in the end none of them had any influence, no real power. And what did they think? “Well, let’s band together under the Cuban Council; let’s unite all these organizations—some of which consist of a husband, a wife, and a son, who are the organization’s three members—but hey, if that brings in money, so much the better.”

They came up with the idea of uniting the entire Cuban opposition under a sort of umbrella organization called Concilio Cubano, whose leader was a very intelligent young man, a lawyer by profession, a law school graduate, and—incidentally—a childhood friend of mine from my Havana neighborhood of La Guinera. Having practically grown up together in elementary and high school, Leonel Morejón Almagro was the head of Concilio Cubano. On February 24, 1996, Concilio Cubano was set to hold a sort of congress—a meeting aimed at uniting all the groups.

José Basulto knew that at that time there were no—or very few—rafters to rescue, but he had announced some time earlier at a press conference that he was going to fly over Cuba in his small planes on February 24, in support of Concilio Cubano. We’re talking about a person who had already violated Cuban airspace several times. And that is documented. This is shown in footage because whenever they violated Cuba’s airspace, they had a journalist from Miami television stations—both English- and Spanish-language—on board the planes, who recorded their actions. And when they returned to Miami, they boasted on Miami television, showing the footage and saying: “We did this in Cuba, and the Cuban military planes have no fuel, and Cuba cannot defend itself.” Cubans, join us!

And at a press conference prior to February 24, 1996, Basulto himself announced: – “Brothers to the Rescue” will fly over Cuba in support of the Cuban Council! At no point did he say, “We’re going out to look for rafters.”

M.A.D.—He doesn’t say that because he knows there were practically no rafters at that time?

Gerardo Hernández- Exactly. That day, Basulto took off, but what happened? Cuba, alerted by José Basulto himself, issued a final diplomatic note stating: – We will no longer tolerate violations of our airspace; any aircraft that enters and violates our airspace will face the consequences.

It’s a diplomatic note, but the language is firm. But that wasn’t all. Cuba also contacted the International Civil Aviation Organization and requested that a no-fly zone be established below the 24th parallel for that day, asking the International Civil Aviation Organization: “Please, we don’t want any aircraft flying in this area, which is our responsibility, because we’ll be conducting military exercises today, and that’s very dangerous.”

In its efforts, Cuba even went so far as to request a military exclusion zone. To what end? To tell Basulto: “Don’t fly—you’re going to get yourself into a mess; don’t fly that day. Look, we have permission for a military zone.”

But Basulto ignored the warning. He took off that day with three light aircraft; he was in one of them. Two were shot down, and he himself encouraged the others to continue despite Cuba’s warnings not to fly over its national airspace. And when he saw that two had been shot down, he turned his plane around and saved himself.

I was charged and arrested in the United States. I was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, and I served 16 years in prison. I was sentenced to life in prison; I was charged with the deaths of the four people who were in the two downed light aircraft. And when people ask, “Well… what did Gerardo Hernández do?” Even today, you can ask any of Cuba’s most die-hard enemies: What did Gerardo Hernández do to be charged with conspiracy? And among the most seasoned, some will tell you, “I don’t know, but he’s guilty because the United States says so”; others will tell you, “He sent the flight plan.” No, the flight plan was sent by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration as a standard procedure—when a plane is about to take off, it has to send the flight plan to Cuba.

And that’s exactly what they did. It was the United States that sent the coordinates. There are people who’ll tell you: “Oh, well… he himself said they were going to fly on February 24 at a press conference.” So you ask: “What did Gerardo Hernández do?” No one knows what he did. Much less will they know what Raúl Castro did.

Suppose there’s a trial in Miami to prosecute Raúl Castro; finding him guilty of conspiracy to commit murder is impossible. To find him guilty, they’d have to prove there was a conspiracy to shoot down the small planes in international waters. Because if, as happened, Cuba prepares a plan—in legal terms—to shoot down small planes that enter its airspace and endanger the country, that’s legal. Every country has the right to defend itself.

So it’s not enough to prove that Cuba made a plan to say: “The next time they come, we’re going to shoot them down.” They’d have to prove that Cuba had a plan to shoot down the small planes in international waters. And the evidence that exists proves the opposite. It would be absurd for a country to have a plan to shoot down small planes… and to say: “Don’t wait until they enter! Shoot them down before they enter!” That wouldn’t occur to anyone!

M.A.D.—It’s curious that in recent days this issue hasn’t received the same level of attention as it did a few days ago. Why is that?

Gerardo Hernández– I made a meme… I try to stay on top of social media by adapting to the times. Even though I spent a good part of my life without knowing what a cell phone was, I’ve tried to catch up on social media. And I remember posting a meme that said: – Don’t open Pandora’s box because you’re going to find a few uncomfortable things!

And sure enough, they leveled this accusation, and details started coming to light. Videos began surfacing of José Basulto himself saying: “Yes. We were trained by the CIA in combat and sabotage to carry out acts of sabotage in Cuba using bombs… Who taught us how to kill—the United States?” That’s what Basulto says. And then we went to another country, and from there we continued planning how to attack Cuba. That’s what José Basulto says. So, what do we think when that same person says: “Now I’m a pacifist. Imagine if I wanted to fly over the White House and drop little things down! How many times could they do that? How long would they last doing that? Why is it okay against Cuba but not against the United States? It’s truly ironic that a country that has organized the greatest number of terrorist acts against Cuba would want to accuse Cuba of conspiracy to commit murder—for something that happened 30 years ago—when it has been proven that Cuba was merely defending itself based on the absolute right to protect its population against any attempt at territorial violation.

M.A.D.—Does the fact that this issue has taken a back seat in their media offensive mean they’ve done the math?

Gerardo Hernández—That’s the impression I have. Look, what happened with the famous case of The Five in September 1998? We have to go back to the background. In my opinion, what happened with The Five? Why were they arrested? I’ll tell you: because of a tip-off. Someone ratted us out. And in September 1998, when they arrested us, they’d already been watching us for over a year. And they knew we weren’t doing anything against the U.S. government—that we were monitoring the terrorist organizations Alfa 66 and Brothers to the Rescue, as well as the F-4 commandos. We were monitoring those people and trying to investigate their terrorist plans against Cuba. They knew that, and they left us alone. But what happened? In July 1998, an FBI delegation visited Havana and held talks with Cuba’s State Security. That was unprecedented. And Cuban State Security, the Ministry of the Interior, provided them with information, saying: “Look at these people—the 1997 bombings at the hotels that killed Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo were organized in this and that way…” Cuba gave them all that information. And the mere fact that it was made public that FBI officials came to Havana and met with Cuban State Security greatly upset the hate industry in Miami. So what did they do? They struck back: “Look, these people are spies (The Five)—we’ve been watching them for a while now. They haven’t done anything that would warrant a trial, but we’re going to go after them and stir up a scandal to put a stop to this cooperation that’s taking place. FBI agents going to Cuba, cooperating… Cuba providing information—that’s not acceptable.” When the far-right former Cuban-American congresswoman Ileana Ross found out, she raised a huge fuss! “That’s a public danger!” And she convinced Janet Wood Reno, the U.S. Attorney for Miami from 1993 to 2001. So we were arrested.

They arrested The Five, a scandal erupted, and any possibility of rapprochement and cooperation between the two countries was ruined because the scandal was about Castro’s spies. And that’s more or less what’s happening now. There are many forces advocating for normal relations between the two countries, for cooperation, for business. But there’s also a lot of opposition because, ultimately, it doesn’t suit the hate industry.

For years, they’ve been advocating for free enterprise. Well, that actually helps free enterprise. For years, they’ve been criticizing Cuba for not allowing free enterprise—now it does. So it allows the United States and Cuba to have normal relations. … No, no, no… They need a pretext.

What’s the pretext? It works like this: “Let’s dust off this 30-year-old case to accuse Raúl Castro of shooting down the small planes…” In my opinion, that’s what they did. But when the evidence starts to come out, their campaign gets complicated. But at the same time, it’s interesting that the ones who took the lead in this show of an indictment weren’t the Florida Attorney General, nor did it happen in Washington, at the Department of Justice. That took place at the level of the “Banana Republic of Miami,” as we call it.

So—in my opinion—it’s nothing serious that can hold up, although, of course, we shouldn’t underestimate their power to keep pushing forward with a show, a trial, and so on. But it’s a trial they know they would never win legally.

Maribel Acosta Damas, Ph.D. in Social Communication Sciences, is a Cuban journalist and professor at the University of Havana. She works and contributes to various media outlets in her country and abroad.

Source: Mate Amargro translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English