Cuba sued for $80m over 1961 CIA pilot execution

[Grojlach]

Cuba sued over death of CIA pilot
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC correspondent in Havana

A woman in the US has been awarded more than $80m after suing Cuban President Fidel Castro and his government for allegedly executing her father.
CIA pilot Thomas Pete Ray took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Mr Castro in 1961.
A judge in Miami ruled that he was the victim of an extra-judicial killing.
Cuba did not offer a defence in the trial, heard without a jury. According to American law, Janet Ray will be paid out of Cuban assets frozen in the US.
Speaking after the award was given in her favour, Ms Ray said her intention was to do nothing more than honour her father.

Gunshot wound
The pilot was captured by Cuba shortly after his plane was shot down during the botched invasion by Cuban exiles, backed by the US.
Ray's body, with a gunshot wound to the right temple, remained in a Havana morgue until 1979, when Cuba finally returned it to the US.
Six years later two Cubans came forward to say that the pilot was killed in Mr Castro's military headquarters.
Awarding the damages, Judge Ronald Dresnick said the pilot had been executed.
Payment out of frozen Cuban assets in the US can be a lengthy legal process - but there are successful precedents.
In 2001 three families of Cuban-American pilots whose planes were shot down by Cuba were paid damages totalling $97m.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4024511.stm

The absurdity of the amount of money aside, I can't be the only one noticing how bizarre this whole notion is - just picture the consequences of this standard being applied on a global scale. Could you imagine the US government paying $80m to relatives of the insurgent who was executed recently?
I'm probably missing something here...

[ 11-20-2004, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by Grojlach: Speaking after the award was given in her favour, Ms Ray said her intention was to do nothing more than honour her father.

If that truly is the case she won't be needing the $80m then, surely?

I agree with you Groj. This sets a ridiculous precedent.

[Timber Loftis]

As if all that frozen money was *ever* going to go back to Cubans. The funny thing is that a good deal of that frozen money actually belonged to the wealthy Cubans -- who fled to Southern Florida and Spain. Their lot in life was not pretty. They had to sign over all property to get out of Cuba, and then they had their foreign US investments taken by the US. My in-laws had it particularly bad, because they ran to Spain -- and right into the arms of Franco. Then they fled to the US. Once wealthy, they are now poor and old and living in a bad part of Miami.