Cuba: No Clemency For a Hero

As one of only five men recognized as a Hero of the Republic of Cuba, the country’s highest honor, former Major General Arnaldo Ochoa Sanchez had reason to hope for clemency from his comrade of 30 years, Fidel Castro. It did not come. At dawn last Thursday, Ochoa, 57, and three other former army officers convicted only 16 days earlier of drug trafficking were executed by firing squad near Havana.

In a speech to the ruling 29-member Council of State rejecting appeals of the four former officers, Castro expressed hope that the U.S. and Cuba can now cooperate in solving “our common problem” of drug smuggling from South America. That conciliatory line was a far cry from his flat denials in the past of charges by Washington that some Cuban military officials were part of the narcotics pipeline to the U.S. As a first step in his country’s crackdown, Castro said, Cuban pilots will begin shooting down any unidentified airplane flying over the island that ignores orders to land.