Cuba Quits Saying Planes Downed In Their Territory

Cuba stopped saying it shot down two planes over its territory after CIA officials showed proof to Cuban intelligence officers that the planes were over neutral waters, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

The Washington Post reported that U.S. and Cuban intelligence officials met in New York following statements by Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina that the U.S. civilian planes were over Cuban waters.

“The point of the meeting was to make it clear there was irrefutable evidence” the planes were over international waters, the official said.

“Robaina was saying he would produce incontrovertible evidence,” an unidentified U.S. official told the Post. “When our evidence was deployed, we didn’t hear anything more.”

The Feb. 24 shooting incident, which killed two pilots and two other people from the Cuban-American group Brothers to the Rescue, led to a tightening of the U.S. embargo against the Caribbean island.

The Post also reported that statements made Jan. 15 by Jose Basulto, who piloted a third plane which was not harmed in the incident, about earlier violating Cuban airspace may have led Cuban officials to believe he would do so again.

Basulto’s comments on U.S.-owned Radio Marti promised that the group would continue to harass Havana, the Post said. Basulto heads Brothers to the Rescue. The newspaper said the Radio Marti broadcasts infuriated Cuban leader Fidel Castro.