ICAO finds Cuba violated international aviation law in the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown

The International Civil Aviation Organization concluded its investigation in June 1996 and formally found that Cuba had violated the Convention on International Civil Aviation by firing air-to-air missiles at the Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas without warning and outside Cuban territorial airspace. The ICAO determined the first plane was shot down 9 nautical miles outside Cuban airspace and the second 10 nautical miles outside, and that Cuba had failed to use radio communication or any interception procedure before attacking. The finding established a definitive international legal record that Cuba committed an unlawful act of aerial violence, underpinning subsequent legal and diplomatic actions including the 2026 DOJ indictment.