The Sun-Sentinel reports that a Cuban exile shot down in international waters by the Cuban government is suing the Castro government for $76 million dollars.
The lone survivor of the 1996 shoot down of two planes by Cuban fighter jets has asked a U.S. court to award him nearly $76 million in damages from the Castro government.
Jose Basulto, founder of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue, filed documents last week asking for the amount, saying he deserved $5,000 a day for the rest of his life for the mental pain and suffering the shoot down has caused him. He based his request on U.S. government actuarial tables that predict he'll live until 2037.
I'll freely admit to a double standard here. While I generally despise lawsuits that are filed simply for publicity value, I like this one, simply because it turns the whole equation on end. Nuisance lawsuits are usually filed by loony lefties (the responsible left doesn't ordinarily engage in this kind of silliness). Basulto doesn't have a snowball's chance in Texas of collecting much, but it is a (much deserved) poke in the eye to the Castro regime.
Now, if we can get some of the residents of the Congo to file charges against the Belgian government (in Belgium's own court system, which arrogantly accords itself global jurisdiction)...
posted on June 09, 2003 08:21 PM
