Legal aspects of the 1996 Cuban aerial incident

• Author: Anselm Francis
• Position: Senior Lecturer, Institute of International Relations, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad
• Pages: 403-427

LEGALASPECTSOFTHE1996 CUBANAERIAL

INCIDENT

AnselmFrancis*

WithinthesphereofinternationalrelationsofLatinAmericafew

issues,ifanyatall,haveassumedahigherprofilethanUnitedStates-

Cubanrelations.The1959CubanRevolutionandthespecial

relationshipbetweenCubaandtheSovietUnion-asitthenwas-

whichitengendered,posedaseriouschallengetoUnitedStates

hegemony1intheregion.

Notsurprisingly,theUnitedStatesrespondedvigorouslyand

forcefullytowhatitconsideredasanattempttoundermineits

authoritywithinitsself-proclaimedsphereofinfluence.Itresortedto

militarymeasures,2economiccoercioriandpoliticalpressureto

toppletheCastrorégime,but,asofnow,Castro’ssurvivalskillshave

triumphed,andhecontinuestoasserthiscountry’srighttoself-

determinationandtherighttochooseitspathtoeconomicandsocial

development.

Withinmorerecenttimes,thetensionsbetweenthetwocountries

seemedtohaveeasedslightly.Theyreachedanaccommodationon

migrationissues;thebanontraveltoCubaimposedbytheUnited

SeniorLecturer,InstituteofInternationa! Relations,Universityofthe West

Indies, St.AugustineCampus, Trinidad.

Thismay be tracedtothe MonroeDoctrine enunciatedin1823.Thiswas a

warningtoEuropeannations against interveninginthe WesternHemisphere.

TheBayofPigsinvasion.

AnembargoisimposedagainstCuba.

Examplesincludetheinitiativetakenbythe United States toexcludethe

CubanGovernmentfromthe OrganizationofAmericanStates andthe

severingofdiplomaticties.

403

404CaribbeanLaw Review

Stateshasbecomelesscomprehensive;thepropagandawarwaged

fromWashingtonhasbecomelessintense.

However,theCuban-Americancommunity, alwaysapotentforce

indomesticAmericanpolitics,waspreparedtosettle fornothingless

thantheoverthrowoftheCastrorégimeandsoughttomaintainthe

propagandawaragainstCubafromtheirsafe havenintheUnited

States. Thepropagandawartooka dangerousturnwhenlight aircraft

were sentonsortiesoverCubatodistributehostilepropaganda.5The

Cubanadministrationprotestedtheviolationofitsairspace6and

threatenedtheshootingdownoftheaircraftinpursuanceofitsright

toterritorialintegrityandpoliticalindependence.

Itisagainstthebackgroundofthischargedatmospherethatthe

shootingdownofthetwolightaircraftbyCubanMig21Fighters

shouldbeexamined.Onthesurface,itwouldappearthatthecurrent

disputebetweentheUnitedStatesand Cubaarisingoutoftheaerial

incidentwasone offact. Insofaras therecontinuestobea

disagreementbetweenthetwo statesoverthepreciselocationofthe

light aircraftatthetimetheywereshot down,thisistrue.However,

itmustbeappreciatedthattheincidentraisesimportantlegal issues.

Therefore,itisthepurposeofthisarticletoidentifythelegal

issuesandtoexaminethelegitimacyoftheactionsor measureswhich

havebeentakenbythetwostates.The questionofthelegal statusof

theterritorialseaandtheairspaceaboveitmeritsveryspecial

attentionbecauseitisdecisiveindeterminingthegeographicallimit

ofCuba’s sovereignty.

CaribbeanInsight,March 1996.p.1.

ibid.