
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 22USC6046]

 
               TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
 
     CHAPTER 69A--CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY (LIBERTAD)
 
 SUBCHAPTER I--STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL SANCTIONS AGAINST THE CASTRO 
                               GOVERNMENT
 
Sec. 6046. Condemnation of Cuban attack on American aircraft


(a) Findings

    The Congress makes the following findings:
        (1) Brothers to the Rescue is a Miami-based humanitarian 
    organization engaged in searching for and aiding Cuban refugees in 
    the Straits of Florida, and was engaged in such a mission on 
    Saturday, February 24, 1996.
        (2) The members of Brothers to the Rescue were flying unarmed 
    and defenseless planes in a mission identical to hundreds they have 
    flown since 1991 and posed no threat whatsoever to the Cuban 
    Government, the Cuban military, or the Cuban people.
        (3) Statements by the Cuban Government that Brothers to the 
    Rescue has engaged in covert operations, bombing campaigns, and 
    commando operations against the Government of Cuba have no basis in 
    fact.
        (4) The Brothers to the Rescue aircraft notified air traffic 
    controllers as to their flight plans, which would take them south of 
    the 24th parallel and close to Cuban airspace.
        (5) International law provides a nation with airspace over the 
    12-mile territorial sea.
        (6) The response of Fidel Castro's dictatorship to Saturday's 
    afternoon flight was to scramble 2 fighter jets from a Havana 
    airfield.
        (7) At approximately 3:24 p.m., the pilot of one of the Cuban 
    MiGs received permission and proceeded to shoot down one Brothers to 
    the Rescue airplane more than 6 miles north of the Cuban exclusion 
    zone, or 18 miles from the Cuban coast.
        (8) Approximately 7 minutes later, the pilot of the Cuban 
    fighter jet received permission and proceeded to shoot down the 
    second Brothers to the Rescue airplane almost 18.5 miles north of 
    the Cuban exclusion zone, or 30.5 miles from the Cuban coast.
        (9) The Cuban dictatorship, if it truly felt threatened by the 
    flight of these unarmed aircraft, could have and should have pursued 
    other peaceful options as required by international law.
        (10) The response chosen by Fidel Castro, the use of lethal 
    force, was completely inappropriate to the situation presented to 
    the Cuban Government, making such actions a blatant and barbaric 
    violation of international law and tantamount to cold-blooded 
    murder.
        (11) There were no survivors of the attack on these aircraft, 
    and the crew of a third aircraft managed to escape this criminal 
    attack by Castro's Air Force.
        (12) The crew members of the destroyed planes, Pablo Morales, 
    Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Armando Alejandre, were United 
    States citizens from Miami flying with Brothers to the Rescue on a 
    voluntary basis.
        (13) It is incumbent upon the United States Government to 
    protect the lives and livelihoods of United States citizens as well 
    as the rights of free passage and humanitarian missions.
        (14) This premeditated act took place after a week-long wave of 
    repression by the Cuban Government against Concilio Cubano, an 
    umbrella organization of human rights activists, dissidents, 
    independent economists, and independent journalists, among others.
        (15) The wave of repression against Concilio Cubano, whose 
    membership is committed to peaceful democratic change in Cuba, 
    included arrests, strip searches, house arrests, and in some cases 
    sentences to more than 1 year in jail.

(b) Statements by Congress

    (1) The Congress strongly condemns the act of terrorism by the 
Castro regime in shooting down the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft on 
February 24, 1996.
    (2) The Congress extends its condolences to the families of Pablo 
Morales, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, and Armando Alejandre, the 
victims of the attack.
    (3) The Congress urges the President to seek, in the International 
Court of Justice, indictment for this act of terrorism by Fidel Castro.

(Pub. L. 104-114, title I, Sec. 116, Mar. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 803.)
