Frequent US violations

US pilots have been violating international law by entering Cuban airspace for many years. Since 1994, there have been at least nine incursions, according to Cuban authorities; after each, protest notes were lodged with the United States Interests Section. On more than one occasion, the Cuban Aeronautical Institute also protested to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Most of the flights came from Florida, and many flew over the region between Matanzas and Havana provinces. One flight on July 10, 1994, took off from the US base in Cuba at Guantánamo Bay and dropped anti-Cuban government leaflets over the lighthouse Punta Maisi. Between January 9 and 13 this year more leaflets were dropped over Havana province. Because of the number of incursions, Cuban authorities have had to limit international arrivals and departures at Varadero airport. Meanwhile, El Diario and La Prensa report that on January 12 the US federal authorities insisted that a case against three men, charged with plotting to invade Cuba and overthrow the Castro government, be dropped. The three had been charged with violating federal conspiracy laws and the Neutrality Act, with forbids military action against nations with which the US is not at war. US Customs officials stopped five anti-Castro Cuban Americans in a seven-metre fishing boat containing arms and explosives off the Florida Keys on January 23. Arms found on board included a semi-automatic pistol equipped with a silencer, several gun holsters and some components of explosive devices. The five people on board were not arrested or charged.