Cuba Owes $200 Million for Shoot-Downs, Judge Rules

MIAMI — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Cuba owes nearly $200 million to the families of three Americans killed last year when Cuban fighter jets shot down two small planes in international airspace.

It’s the first such ruling against the communist nation under a U.S. law aimed at countries labeled terrorist states. But the families probably won’t see the money any time soon, if ever.

Even if they get U.S. government permission to collect from Cuban assets frozen in this country, the amount available won’t cover the entire judgment.

Cuba refused to recognize the court’s jurisdiction and didn’t defend itself.

Four members of the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue who were searching for refugees on rafts were killed when Cuban MiGs shot down two private planes in the Florida Straits on Feb. 24, 1996. Three of them were U.S. citizens and eligible to sue under the U.S. law.

Cuba, “in outrageous contempt for international law and basic human rights, murdered four human beings in international airspace,” U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King ruled.

A U.N. panel ruled last year that the planes were shot down over international waters and that Cuba violated international law.

Relatives of the three slain Americans had asked for $79.9 million.

The judge, following a four-day trial in November, decided Cuba should pay $49.9 million in compensatory damages and its air force should pay $137.7 million in punitive damages.

Aaron Podhurst, an attorney for the families, acknowledged that collecting most of the damages will be nearly impossible.

Cuban assets impounded in this country since the mid-1960s total only $148 million, said Beth Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department in Washington. President Clinton would have to authorize use of the money to pay claims.