Cuba thwarts attempted hijacking

[Gambitt]

A Cuban military officer has died after being taken hostage in an attempted hijacking at Havana airport, the interior ministry has said.

The officer was killed by two army deserters who had boarded a plane, officials said.

The operation to end the attempted hijacking reportedly involved a fierce gun battle.

The two deserters were among three conscripts who escaped from their barracks. All three are now in custody.

According to a statement from the Cuban government, early on Thursday morning two Cuban army recruits commandeered a local bus, seizing several hostages.

They drove the bus to Havana's main airport and managed to board a empty plane.

The Cuban government says that inside the plane the hijackers killed one of their hostages, an unarmed lieutenant colonel in the Cuban army.

In the operation to end the attempted hijacking, which according to local residents involved a fierce gun battle, none of the other hostages were apparently harmed.

Breakout

The two hijackers were part of a group of three conscripts who deserted their base on Saturday, having stolen automatic weapons.

The Cuban government says that during the breakout an army watchman was killed by the escaping soldiers.

The two hijackers have been taken into custody.

The third soldier was captured earlier in the week.

This is the first reported hijacking attempt in Cuba since 2003.

In March that year, two planes were seized in separate incidents, one of which was flown with 31 people on board to Key West in Florida.

The following month, three men hijacked a small ferry boat in Havana in an attempt to cross the Florida Straits.

They were captured, tried and executed by firing squad in a matter of days.

Cuba says that the US policy of giving near automatic asylum to Cubans is a incitement to those who resort to extreme means to leave Cuba.

The American government says it does not offer asylum to hijackers.


from:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6621793.stm

[Bulldog]

Cuba honours officer killed in failed hijacking

Published on Saturday, May 5, 2007 Email To Friend    Print Version 


HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): A Cuban officer killed in a failed hijacking was awarded a posthumous medal for bravery, local media reported Friday, one day after two army deserters tried to seize a plane in Havana and flee to the United States.

The decision to award the "Antonio Maceo Medal of Bravery" to the late lieutenant Colonel Victor Ibo Acuna was initiated by acting president Raul Castro who has officially led Cuba since his older brother Fidel underwent surgery in July and "provisionally" handed over power.

Ibo Acuna "tried heroically to prevent the terrorist act," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Armed with AK-47 rifles, the two deserters had entered Havana's international airport at dawn Thursday in a bus with several hostages, and boarded an empty plane hoping to fly to the United States.

Once in the aircraft, the two killed Ibo Acuna. They had already killed a soldier and wounded another when they fled their military unit just outside Havana, authorities said.

The two would-be hijackers were captured after what witnesses described as a fierce gun battle.

A third deserter had been detained earlier and "revealed their goal was to leave the country illegally," the interior ministry said.
 

[Bulldog]

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Cuban deserters' American dream turns into deadly nightmare
Published on Monday, May 7, 2007 

By Patrick Lescot

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP): The three young Cuban soldiers fled their military base to chase the American dream, but the deserters could now face a firing squad after their plot turned into a bloody nightmare.



 
Picture of the arrest warrant showing the three Cuban soldiers who deserted from military service, two of whom tried to hijack an airplane at Jose Marti airport in Havana. AFP PHOTO
Their bold plan was to hijack an airplane to fly to the United States, the country many disillusioned Cubans secretly dream of reaching. But by the time they were all captured this week, a sentry and an officer had been killed.

Their escapade had already started violently last Sunday, when the deserters killed a guard and wounded another soldier at their tank base in Managua, 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Havana, according to the interior ministry.

They fled with a pair of Kalashnikov assault rifles along with 700 bullets, the government said in the lone official statement on the deserters' escape and capture.

Cuba's powerful police quickly launched a manhunt, alerting the population by placing posters in Havana with pictures of Alain Forbus, 19, Yoan Torres, 21, and Leandro Cerezo, 19, warning that the men were "armed" and "dangerous."

Within days, thanks to the "most decisive support of the population," one of the three was captured and revealed the plot to flee to the United States, the statement said. According to a diplomatic source, it was Forbus.

Torres and Cerezo, hiding in the suburbs of Havana, managed to evade the police dragnet.

At around 2:00 am Thursday, the pair climbed aboard a bus in a neighborhood near Havana's Jose Marti airport, according to witnesses. A few passengers, including Lieutenant Colonel Victor Ibo Acuna Velazquez, were in the bus despite the late hour.

Wielding the Kalashnikovs, the deserters forced the bus to speed to the airport, where they stormed an empty Boeing 737, taking with them several bus passengers as hostages, including Acuna, witnesses said.

They began negotiating with authorities, demanding a pilot who would fly them to Miami, a half-hour flight away.

According to the official statement, Acuna "heroically tried" to stop the hijacking, a move that cost him his life. A witness said the officer had grabbed a fire extinguisher but was gunned down by two bullets.

The official statement gives no detail on the operation, except to say that the authorities' "efficient and coordinated action" had "saved the lives of the other hostages."

According to some witnesses, elite secret service agents disguised as cabin crew boarded the plane and quickly detained the would-be hijackers at 4:00 am. It was unknown Friday whether the operation left any casualties.

Now in the custody of Cuban authorities, the two men, and their previously captured companion, could face the death penalty.

Cuba said its arch-enemy, the US government, was to blame for the incident, citing a US law that provides automatic legal residency to Cubans who manage to set foot on US soil.

But the deserters would probably have had to face justice after landing in the United States.

In March 2003, two planes were hijacked in separate incidents in Cuba and forced to land in the United States, where the hijackers were arrested, put on trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison