Escambray ENGLISH EDITION
By means of four diplomatic notes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had sought the return of the perpetrator of this act of aerial piracy and of the aircraft, property of Empresa Nacional de Servicios Aéreos S.A. (ENSA).
In these notes, as now, we reiterated that acts of aerial piracy are crimes classified in various international conventions ratified by Cuba and the United States; that such acts are a violation of airspace, of operational safety and of Cuba’s aeronautical regulations, reflected in the provisions of the annexes to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation; and that impunity for acts of this character constitutes a negative, dangerous precedent.
Granting political asylum to someone who hijacks an aircraft for the purpose of emigrating constitutes, moreover, a breach of the Joint Declaration on Migration signed by the two countries on 12 January 2017, under which “… determined to strongly discourage unlawful actions related to irregular migration, [they] shall promote effective bilateral cooperation to prevent and prosecute alien smuggling and other crimes related to migration movements that threaten their national security, including the hijacking of aircraft and vessels”.
The Deputy Minister recalled that the history of air piracy encouraged and tolerated by Washington for the purposes of destabilization and political hostility towards Cuba has a notorious history and highly negative and sensitive consequences, which should be a lesson that prompts the US government to act responsibly in relation to events of such seriousness.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs deplores this decision by the US government and its judicial system, which effectively makes them accomplices and sponsors of piracy and aircraft hijacking – crimes which, if tolerated and protected, could encourage similar unlawful acts with adverse repercussions for the national security of both countries.
Havana, 27 February 2023
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