To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
Putin invades Ukraine. Backed by the Castros in Cuba, Maduro in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua and Assad in Syria. Havana blames USA.
Vladimir Putin violated Article I Section 2 of the UN charter when he invaded Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin unleashed a three-sided Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and "warned the international community that intervening would lead to "consequences you have never seen." Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are being killed by Russian invaders.
Article I Section 2 of the United Nations Charter states:
" To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;"
Vladimir Putin's full scale invasion of Ukraine, a democratic country with a people who have chosen to be Ukranians, and have a history that stretches back centuries, is not only a crime against the people of Ukraine, but a violation of Article 1 Section 2 of the UN Charter.
The Russian dictator's own statements reveal a desire to restore the Russian empire.
Kenyan Ambassador Martin Kimini in his statement before the UN Security Council, citing Africa's own experience with colonialism and empire, made clear his country's opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Just hours after Ukraine was invaded, Taiwan's air force scrambled to warn off nine Chinese military aircraft that had entered its air defense zone. If Vladimir Putin is not called to account, further aggression will be committed around the globe.
For the moment, Putin is diplomatically isolated, although "Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Syria supported the Russian recognition of independence for the occupied regions in Luhansk and Donetsk," reported Euronews.
Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian targets
Cuba and Syria are on the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors, and Venuela should be added to that list for narcotrafficking and the Soles Cartel, and harboring Middle East terrorist groups. Nicaragua, under Daniel Ortega, has back slid into a full blown dictatorship that murders students and journalists. These are natural Putin allies, because all four have a history of outlaw behavior.
Vladimir Putin meets with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel outside Moscow on October 29, 2019. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool/AFP/Getty Images
Still Havana goes further than the others.
The Castro regime on February 23, 2022 blamed America for the crisis, and "urged the United States and NATO to respond 'seriously and realistically' to Russian demands for 'security guarantees' and called for a diplomatic solution as tensions over Ukraine reach fever pitch."
With regards to Cuba, this is not Havana's first rodeo.
It is important to revisit the historical record. The Castro dictatorship backed the Russian invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Afghanistan in 1979.
Havana has long coordinated military and diplomatic efforts with Moscow.
"Castro’s apologia for the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968," according to Charles Lane in The Washington Post was evidence that Castro was no liberator.
Cuba was one of nine non-aligned nations "that approved the Afghan invasion in a vote at the United Nations." Despite this, in 1980 Fidel Castro was chairman of the 85-nation "nonaligned" bloc, but the reality continued to be Havana coordinating with Moscow.
Putin has a long track record of criminal behavior: poisoning and killing opponents and journalists, and turning Russia back into a full autocracy following an all too brief political opening, but the Castro regime is a close Russian ally that does not shy away from state terrorism.
On February 24, 1996 at 3:21pm and 3:27pm two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down by two Cuban MiGs over international airspacekilling four. Two more MIG’s chased a third plane to within three minutes of downtown Key West, but the third one returned and provided critical information on what had occurred.
In Alejandre v. Republic of Cuba, 996 F.Supp. 1239 (S.D.Fla. 1997), a federal district court awarded the families of three of the four occupants of the “ Brothers to the Rescue” planes shot down by Cuba in 1996 a total of $187.7 million in damages against Cuba. This was a premeditated act of state terrorism by Havana. Two Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, providing information to the Castro regime on the group, disinformation to the FBI, and their Cuban spy ring leader, Gerardo Hernandez warned the two infiltrated agents not to fly during a four-day period that included the day of the premeditated attack. Six days before the attack a Cuban pilot saw Cuban MiGs rehearsing the shoot down.
The fictional character Sancho Panza observed in Miguel de Cervantes's novel Don Quijote, "Tell me what company you keep, and I will tell you who you are." Policymakers should take that into consideration when looking at Russia, Cuba, Syria, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
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