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

LEGA L ASPECTS OF THE 1996 CUBAN AERIA L

INCIDENT

A ns elm Fran cis*

W ith in th e sp he re o f in te rna tio na l rel ati o n s o f L ati n A m er ic a f e w

is sue s, if an y at a ll, ha ve a ssu m ed a hi g h er pr ofi le th an Un ite d Sta tes -

C ub an re la tio ns . T he 1 95 9 C ub an R e v olu ti o n a n d t h e sp ec ial

re la tio n sh ip be tw ee n C ub a an d th e S ov ie t U nio n - as it th en w as -

w hi ch i t en ge nd er ed , p os ed a s erio us ch al len ge to U ni te d S ta tes

h eg em o ny 1 in th e reg ion .

N o t su rp ris in gly , th e U ni te d S tat es r e s p o nd ed vi go ro u sly a nd

fo rc ef u ll y to w h at i t c on sid er ed a s a n at tem p t to u n d erm in e it s

au th ori ty wi th in it s s elf -p ro cla im ed sp her e o f in flu en ce . It res or ted to

m il it ar y m ea su re s ,2 e c o n om ic co erci ori an d po lit ica l p re ssu re to

to pp le the C as tr o r ég im e, bu t, as o f n ow , C as tro ’s su rv iva l s kil ls ha ve

tr iu m ph ed , a nd h e co nt inu es to a sse rt h is co u n try ’s r igh t t o s elf-

d e te rm in a ti on an d the ri g h t to ch oo se its pa th to e co no m ic an d so cia l

d ev e l o p m e n t .

W it h in mo re re ce n t ti m es , th e t en si on s b e tw e e n th e t wo c ou nt rie s

se em e d to h av e ea se d sl igh tly . Th ey re ac he d an ac co m mo da ti o n on

m ig ra tio n i ssu es ; th e ba n o n tra ve l to Cu ba im p os ed b y th e Un ite d

Seni or Lecture r, Institute of Internationa! Relations, University of the West

Indies, St. Augus tine Campus, Trinidad.

This may be traced to the M onroe Doctrine enunciated in 1823. Thi s was a

warning to European nations against intervening in the Western Hem isphere.

The Bay of Pigs invas ion.

An em bargo is imposed again st Cuba.

Exam ples include the initiative taken by the United States to ex clude the

Cuba n Gove rnment from the Organizati on of America n States and the

severi ng of diploma tic ties.

403

404 Caribbe an Law Review

States has be com e less comprehensive ; the propagand a wa r w aged

from W ashington has becom e less intense.

However, the Cuban-American community, always a potent force

in dom estic Am erican politics, w as prepared to settle for noth ing less

than the o ver throw o f the Castro régime and sought to mainta in the

pro pa ganda w ar against Cuba from their safe have n in the Un ited

States. The pr opag anda war took a dangerous turn w hen light aircraft

were sent on sorties over Cuba to distribute hostile propaganda.5 The

Cuban administratio n proteste d the violation o f its airsp ace6 and

threa tened the shooting do wn o f the aircraft in pursuance o f its right

to territorial integrity an d political indep endence.

It is agai nst the bac kground o f this c har ged atmo sphere that the

sho oting down of the two light aircraft by Cuban Mig 21 Fighters

should be examined. On the surface, it would ap pear that th e cu rrent

dispute betw een the United States and Cuba aris ing out of the aerial

inc ident w as one of fact. In so far as there continues to be a

disagreement between the two states o ver the p rec ise location of the

light airc raft at the tim e they were shot down, this is tr ue. However,

it must be appreciated th at th e incident raises importa nt legal issues.

There fo re, it is the purpose of this article to identify the legal

issues and to examine the legitimacy o f the actions or measures which

hav e be en taken by the two states. The q uestio n o f the legal status of

the territorial sea and the airspace above it m erits very special

attention b ecause it is de cisiv e in determining the geograp hical limit

of C uba’s s ove reig nty.

Ca ribbe an Insight, March 199 6. p. 1.

ibid .