‘Comrade Raul’: Beijing defends Cuba’s ex-leader over Florida murder warrant
China on Wednesday condemned an arrest warrant issued in the US state of Florida for former Cuban president Raul Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian planes, accusing the United States of using the courts to pressure Havana. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was asked about the warrant by the state-run Global Times at a regular briefing in Beijing. She referred to the 95-year-old as…
China defended former Cuban President Raul Castro against a Florida arrest warrant issued on Friday, accusing the United States of using judicial measures to pressure Havana. The 95-year-old, referred to by China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as "comrade Raul Castro", is accused of conspiring to commit first-degree murder in the 1996 downing of two civilian planes flown by Brothers to the Rescue, an exile group.
The incident resulted in the deaths of all four crew members, including three US citizens and a legal resident. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier plans to build the state case on Cuban espionage, despite the planes being downed outside US territory. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called the warrant a "pathetic Miami circus" with an electoral motive, while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described it as a "sterile manoeuvre" by anti-Cuban politicians in South Florida.
Havana maintains that Brothers to the Rescue repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and that the group's forces acted in defence of national sovereignty. The US oil blockade imposed in January and the decades-old trade embargo leave Cuba short of fuel, affecting Air China's Beijing-Havana route.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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