Castro charged with crimes against humanity

MIAMI – Judicial Watch, the public-interest government watchdog organization, has filed a lawsuit in Belgium charging Fidel Castro with “crimes against humanity.”

The case is supported by the eyewitness testimony of Jose Basulto, sole survivor of a humanitarian rescue mission attacked by Cuban Air Force jets in 1996. Other victims of Castro’s regime have joined Basulto’s initiative and pressed charges against the Cuban leader. If found guilty under Belgian law, the Cuban leader faces a sentence of between 20 and 30 years’ imprisonment.

The law, which has been used recently to bring charges against former Chilean President Pinochet, was established in 1999. By creating such a law, Belgium paved the way in bringing perpetrators of widespread and systematic violations of human rights to face trial in Belgium, regardless of where these crimes were committed.

Last week, Basulto, together with his fellow plaintiffs and their legal representatives, visited Brussels’ Palais de Justice to deliver a writ on behalf of all victims of Castro’s regime.

“My goal is to get justice for the innocent, unarmed men who risked everything to help their fellow countrymen,” said Basulto. “We have spent more than four years collecting evidence that identifies Fidel Castro as being responsible for their deaths, and now have the opportunity to test that evidence through a respected international legal process.”

According to Basulto, this is only the tip of the iceberg and he hopes that other victims will come forward to further strengthen his action.

Basulto has already been joined by Eugenio de Sosa Chabau, a prominent Cuban businessman and newspaper editor, who was tortured in a Cuban prison from 1960 to 1980 for opposing Castro’s government. Castro confiscated de Sosa Chabau’s assets upon imprisoning him after a Cuban court found that he had committed ”dissident political activities” for speaking out against Castro’s regime. After being repeatedly physically and mentally abused, de Sosa Chabau was released in 1980.

Sergio Perodin and Maria Victoria Garcia, were aboard a tugboat heading for Florida that was sunk July 13, 1994, by boats of the Cuban Ministry of Transportation, drowning 41 people, many of them children. Perdolin’s wife and 11-year-old son died, and Garcia lost 14 family members.

The plaintiffs’ chief counsel, Larry Klayman, chairman of Judicial Watch, said that Basulto’s case against Castro includes evidence from media interviews given by the Cuban leader shortly after the aircraft were shot down.

“In subsequent press interviews with Time magazine and Dan Rather of CBS News, Fidel Castro stated that he personally ordered the shooting down of the unarmed civilian planes, and that he accepted personal responsibility for what happened,” Klayman said.

The Basulto case stems from an incident Feb. 24, 1996, when three unarmed civilian light aircraft, conducting a search-and-rescue mission for Cuban refugees over the Straits of Florida, were attacked by Cuban air force jets. Two of the three aircraft were shot down and destroyed in international waters, killing four people on board. One of the survivors was Basulto, a member of the Brothers to the Rescue group (Hermanos Al Rescate) of Cuban Americans, which helps refugees reach and settle in America.

“Already, a criminal court in Miami has convicted agents of Fidel Castro of the murder of Brothers to the Rescue pilots,” said Basulto. “Now Castro himself must be brought to justice.”