“It is (a) political issue and also has to do with the November election – that’s my point of view-and the votes they want to win on one side or the other,” said the chief executive during her usual press conference at the National Palace.

Yesterday the president of the island, Miguel Díaz-Canel, affirmed that the measure is part of a “pathetic circus with electoral background” and assured that actions directed against Raúl Castro will always find the determination of the Cuban people to defend the Revolution.

In a message on the social network X, he considered that the initiative constitutes a “legal disguize maneuver,” organized by anti-Cuban politicians, and argued that it is part of the attempts to justify the economic blockade imposed by Washington and the collective punishment against the Caribbean nation.

The statements come after a Miami judge issued a new arrest warrant related to the case of the downing, in February 1996, of two aircraft belonging to the terrorist organization Hermanos al Rescate (Brothers to the Rescue).

The measure, announced by Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, is also added to proceedings previously launched in the United States against the Cuban leader and other citizens of the Antillean island for these actions.

Last May, the government of Cuba rejected the federal accusation linked to the same case and then denounced that Washington lacks jurisdiction and legitimacy to prosecute facts related to the defense of national sovereignty.

Havana maintains that the aircraft involved have repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and recalls that for years the country’s authorities forwarded complaints about these incursions to U.S. and international organizations.

According to the Cuban authorities, the island’s actions were protected by the right to legitimate defense, protection of air sovereignty and the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the 1944 Chicago Convention.

Cuba has reapetedly denounced that this type of action is part of the policy of hostility maintained by Washington against the Caribbean nation and attempts to legitimize the continuation of the economic, commercial and financial blockade in force for more than six decades.

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