Cuba Relations~ Sins of the past

On May 10, 1980, Bahamian Defense Forces attempted to detain two Cuban fishing vessels for poaching in Bahamian waters off Cay Santo Domingo in the Ragged Island chain of the Bahamas.
In retaliation, the Cuban Government scrambled two Cuban Air Force MiG-21s. Daringly, the MiGs crossed into Bahamas airspace and without provocation, rolled in to attack the 100 foot patrol boat, the HMBS Flamingo, sinking it with their 23 mm cannons. Then the MiGs circled back to mercilessly strafe the survivors in the water.

Four BDF Marines were killed in the brutal, calculated attack. Despite the carnage, fifteen crewmen and the Commander of the patrol boat survived and made it to safety in Duncan Town, on Ragged Island, after being picked up by the very fishing vessels they had earlier boarded.

The Cuban poachers were convicted two months later in July 1980, though the MiG pilots never had to stand for justice. Cuba eventually admitted responsibility, paying the Bahamas $10 million in compensation for the incident.

Sound familiar? It should!

On February 24, 1996, two Cuban Air Force MiGs attacked and shot down two civilian Cessna aircraft that were flying a humanitarian search and rescue mission with the group Brothers to the Rescue. Four men died, including three American citizens.

Eventually, Castro admitted to personally ordering the shootdown. In the USA, the victims’ families sued the Cuban Government and won. They were paid millions in compensation from Cuban assets held in the USA – over the objection of the Castro Government.

The international community condemned Cuba for the murder. The full story of the shootdown is documented in detail in the book, BETRAYAL: Clinton, Castro & the Cuban Five, which details the negotiations between Cuban and Washington at the time and the Clinton Administration’s failed attempts to improve relations. The attacks came at a time when the Clinton Administration was trying to open a new chapter in bilateral relations by extending a hand of forgiveness to Fidel Castro.

What ties these events together is that in each, the U.S. Government and the sitting Democrat president were negotiating to normalize relations with Cuba. Each time, Cuba followed a calculated and cold pattern of response.

First, Havana welcomed any gesture of moderation on the part of the USA, yet the Cubans made no significant change to their own policy – instead, they brutally lashed out to give the United States and its regional allies a black eye.

Whether it was Carter’s experience with threatened Cuban aggression in the 1977 “Capitan Leo” incident when Cuban MiGs overflew the Dominican Republic and threatened to bomb two cities, the Bahamian attack in 1980, the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, or President Clinton’s experience with the Refugee Crisis of 1994 and the 1996 shootdown, Cuba has followed a practiced and repeating pattern.

President Obama, like his Democratic Party predecessors, is once again reaching out to Cuba. This time, the President has the advice of a new team of Cuba policy veterans, men and women who will again give guidance on how to negotiate with Havana.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Attorney Gregory Craig and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all had roles in President Bill Clinton’s failed attempts at improving relations with Cuba. The results then were four dead Americans and an embarrassing end to the Elian Gonzalez saga.

Perhaps it’s time we let history be our guide as we set out once again on this path. For our part, we just hope that we won’t have to bury any more of our friends in the name of “improving relations.”-- Matt Lawrence