Why is the U.S. government refusing to hand over the satellite footage of February 24, 1996? Why the U.S. media silence about such a scandalous event?

GERARDO Hernández Nordelo, one of the Cuban Five incarcerated in the United States, has submitted a request for habeas corpus relief on the basis of new evidence.

The case of Gerardo, sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years, is highly significant in demonstrating that a number of U.S. administrations are not prepared to review the trial proceedings, however much evidence emerges of illegal methods utilized to condemn the detainees.

Richard Klugh, a member of the Five’s defense team, has exposed the fact that the U.S. government is still refusing to present documented evidence asked for in order to clarify exactly what happened concerning the downing of two light aircraft on February 24, 1996. Access to material compiled by investigators at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) was not allowed to be presented before the Miami District Court 15 years ago, and the new demand from Gerardo’s defense attorney has also been refused.

This position of refusing to allow anyone else to see evidence only known to Washington which, in its submission of 123 pages and three appendices against Gerardo, barely mentions the issue in a twisted five-line paragraph, is highly suspicious.

Ricardo Alarcón, who was Cuba’s representative to the ICAO in 1996, noted that no U.S. court had jurisdiction over the February 24 incident, or only in the event of it having taken place in international airspace. The ICAO investigation revealed a surprising fact. Despite prior warnings by the Cuban government, U.S. radar stations either did not record the incident, or presented contradictory information, or destroyed that information. The only "evidence" supplied by U.S. authorities is the testimony of the captain of an aircraft operating (by chance?) out of Miami and, according to new details, the owners of the aircraft were financial contributors to the Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF).

Hence the interest in the satellite footage, first on the part of the ICAO and subsequently on the part of Gerardo’s defense. The U.S. government has never denied the existence of those images, it admitted having them, but nobody else has been allowed to see them for the past 15 years.

Why is the U.S. government refusing to hand over this satellite footage? Why the U.S. media silence about such a scandalous event?