A group of Morena deputies members of the Mexico-Cuba Brotherhood Group expressed their support for former Cuban president Raúl Castro, after the United States charged him with homicide related to the downing of two American small planes in 1996.
Accusation and support
In a statement released by the Cuban Embassy in Mexico, the legislators rejected the accusation. They pointed out that it represents an act of political pressure against Cuban sovereignty.
“It does not represent a step towards accountability, but rather the reinforcement of acts of political coercion against the island,” they stated.
United States Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau described it as “unhonorable” that the position was not signed by specific legislators. He also criticized support for what he described as an “openly dictatorial regime” and questioned the absence of free elections in Cuba.
In response, the Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez, condemned the accusations. He reproached Landau for referring to Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship as a “management.” The diplomat defended the Cuban Revolution, ensuring that it overthrew a regime responsible for thousands of deaths and disappearances.
Later, Morena’s spokesperson in the Chamber of Deputies, Arturo Ávila, clarified that support for Raúl Castro does not represent an official position of the bench. He explained that the statement was issued by members of parliamentary friendship groups and deputies in their personal capacity, in the exercise of their freedom of expression.
