Cuba
and the United States are the only countries in the Americas region which have
not yet signed the Mine Ban Treaty. The Directorate of Multilateral Affairs of
the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given to Landmine Monitor the
following statement on why Cuba can not join the ban treaty:
- Cuba shares the concern of the majority within the international community
in relation to the terrible effects of the indiscriminate and irresponsible use
of antipersonnel landmines;
- Cuba fully supports the humanitarian efforts to prevent these effects;
- Cuba believes that the final objective of international negotiations on
antipersonnel landmines must be the following: to guarantee the protection of
the civilian population as well as the defensive capacity of all States to
preserve their sovereignty and territorial integrity;
- An integral package of measures must be included in the overall negotiation
for demining the affected areas in specific less developed countries;
- Cuba cannot be attached to any international agreement prohibiting the use
of antipersonnel landmines whilst she is under the threats and hostility of the
United States of America. For us the use of this type of mine is a vital need
for Cuba's national security in our conception of the Peoples' War, aimed to
reject, neutralize, resist and annihilate the aggressor;
- At present Cuba makes use of antipersonnel landmines exclusively in the
area immediately surrounding the Cuban territory illegally occupied by the USA
at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo. Civilians are prohibited from entering
this area;
- Cuba has participated as an observer in many of the Ottawa Process meetings
and is eager to continue doing
so.[1]
In addition, the Directorate of Multilateral Affairs states that “if
one day the USA changes its present dangerous decision of destroying the Cuban
Revolution, that day there will be no more need of our
landmines.”[2]
Cuba participated as an observer in most of the key meetings of the Ottawa
Process while clearly stating that such participation "should not be interpreted
as acceptance of the objectives of the
process."[3] Indeed, the Cuban
government firmly believes that "actions leading to find effective solutions to
the problem caused by the irresponsible and indiscriminate use of mines" should
take into account "every State's legitimate national security
interests."[4]
Cuba was one of only ten countries to abstain in the vote on UN General
Assembly 51/45S urging states to vigorously pursue an international agreement
banning antipersonnel landmines (passed 156-0 on 10 December 1996). It was also
among the few who abstained on the 1997 UNGA Resolution supporting the treaty
signing and the 1998 UNGA Resolution welcoming the addition of new states to the
Mine Ban Treaty, urging its full realization and inviting state parties and
observers to the First Meeting of State Parties in Mozambique.
Cuba attended as an observer the October 1996 strategy meeting which launched
the Ottawa Process. In the February 1997 Vienna meeting where 111 governments
convened to discuss essential components of the ban treaty, Cuba was one of only
four countries who spoke of their continued need to use antipersonnel
landmines.[5] At the April 1997
Bonn Meeting where 120 governments convened to discuss verification measures for
the ban treaty, Cuba was one of only four countries which indicated that they
could not support a ban.[6]
Cuba attended the June 1997 conference in Brussels as an observer but did not
join the 97 governments which endorsed the pro-ban treaty Brussels Declaration.
Cuba did not participate in the September 1997 Oslo diplomatic negotiations.
Cuba sent its Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria de los Angeles
Florez, to the December 1997 signing ceremony in Ottawa. Florez stated that
Cuba’s participation in the ceremony as an observer “in no way
implies that we do not coincide with the humanitarian objectives and aspirations
motivating the rest of the countries
represented.”[7] Florez
said that Cuba’s “concern on the negative effects of the
indiscriminate and irresponsible use of antipersonnel landmines” resulted
its active involvement in the early 1980s “in the negotiation process
which led to the establishment of the Convention on Conventional
Weapons.”[8]
Cuba is a party to CCW and its original Protocol II on landmines but has yet
to ratify amended Protocol II. It recently stated that it is now
“complying with the required constitutional process on this amended
instrument.”[9] Cuba
views the amended Protocol as “the only universally acceptable regulation
of landmines.”[10]
Cuba’s Military Orders and Regulations “enables Cuba to comply with
the provisions of Protocol II” and guarantees “that mines are used
solely to protect national borders and military objectives, which are of
interest for national
security.”[11]
Cuba is a member of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), but has not been a
noted supporter of efforts to negotiate a ban on AP mine transfers in that
forum. Cuba is a non-participating member of the Organisation of American
States (OAS) and therefore has not endorsed any resolutions by the OAS General
Assembly. Cuba is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and during the
most recent 1998 NAM Summit in Durban, South Africa, Cuba together with
countries such as Egypt blocked reference to the Mine Ban Treaty in the final
declaration of the meeting. At the time, 74 out of the 113 member states of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) had signed the ban treaty and fourteen had
ratified.
Production
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Cuba
has produced at least eight different kinds of landmines,
including:[12]
-- PMFC-1 antipersonnel fragmentation; this tripwire initiated mine appears
to be a direct copy of the PP Mi-Sb ex-Czechoslovakian mine
-- PMFH-1 antipersonnel fragmentation mine known in Spanish as “Mina
Antipersonnel de Fragmentation de Hierro; this is another tripwire initiated
copy of the PP Mi-Sb
-- PMM-1 antipersonnel wooden box mine, commonly referred to as a
“shu” mine.[13]
It is believed that Cuba continues to produce antipersonnel mines at the
Union of Military Industries (Union de las Industrias Militares,
UIM).[14]
Transfer
Three types of Cuban antipersonnel mines have been
found in Nicaragua, the PMFC-1, the PMFH-1 and the
PMM-1.[15] In addition, the
Cuban M57 AP mine has been found in
Angola.[16] Cuba, however,
states that it has never, nor does it presently, export mines of any
type.[17] Cuba has not announced
a formal moratorium or ban on the export of antipersonnel mines. It is assumed
that Cuba has imported antipersonnel mines from the former Soviet Union and
perhaps other nations, but no concrete information is available.
Stockpile
The size and composition of the Cuban antipersonnel
mine stockpile is unknown.
Use
Cuba’s south-eastern corner is occupied by
the United States Guantanamo Naval Base which is encircled by an extensive
18-mile border of barbed wire, metal fences and landmines planted by both the
U.S. and Cuba. A estimated 735 acres of land were seeded with approximately
70,000 antipersonnel and antitank mines at the beginning of
1961.[18] Cuban officials
state the minefield is clearly marked and fenced, making it virtually impossible
for Cuban citizens to access the area.
Outside of the country, Cuba is known to have used mines in Angola and to
have trained Angolan forces in mine warfare. The standard text for mine warfare
for Angolan troops was a Cuban
manual.[19] Two minefields were
recently found at Kuvango and Jamba in the southern Angolan province of Huila
where Cuban and Namibian forces had military
bases.[20]
Mine Action
Cuba has informed the United Nations of its
willingness to participate in international humanitarian mine clearing
operations and to assist landmine
victims.[21] However, to date
Cuba has not contributed to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Mine Clearance, nor
is it known to have made any bilateral contributions, either financial or
in-kind services.
Cuba has stated that it will clear all its minefields in Guantanamo once the
U.S. withdraws its troops and weaponry, thus making it possible to declare the
country “free of mines in times of
peace.”[22]
U.S. Mines in Cuba
In a May 1996 Presidential policy statement, the
United States announced that it would remove all the “more than 50,000
mines...deployed on the U.S. side of the buffer zone back in 1961" and replace
them with “layered defense measures including some sound and motion
sensors which will provide the appropriate security under the present
circumstances.”[23] The
U.S. has committed to completing the destruction process by the end of
1999.[24] The U.S. is removing
the mines as part of its policy to eliminate all “dumb” mines (those
that do not self-destruct) except those it plans to use in Korea.
It is possible that, in addition to the “dumb” mines in the
ground that the U.S. is destroying, it also has so-called “smart”
mines (those that have self-destruct mechanisms) stored in Cuba. At a press
briefing in October 1997, in response to a question about destruction of U.S.
mines in Cuba, Secretary of Defense William Cohen said, “There is in fact
every attempt to remove the mines that are not self-destruct types of
mines in that
area.”[25] (emphasis
added).
Landmine Casualties
At least twenty-three people have been killed in
Guantanamo’s minefields since
1961.[26] That toll includes
eighteen U.S. servicemen--thirteen Marines assigned to maintain the minefield,
and five sailors who entered by mistake in 1964. The last U.S. casualty was in
1990.[27] Five Cuban asylum
seekers have also been killed trying to cross Guantanamo’s
minefields.[28]
[1]Statement of Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, quoted in
letter from Ambassador Angel Dalmau to Noel Stott, South Africa, 26 November
1997.
[3]“Cuba's Policy
Concerning the Issue of Antipersonnel Landmines,” Statement to the
Brussels Conference, reprinted in Handicap International and International
Campaign to Ban Landmines, Conference Report: Brussels International
Conference for the Total Ban on Antipersonnel Landmines, 24-27 June 1997, p.
27.
[5]“Historic Meeting
Discusses Elements of a Landmine Treaty,” ICBL Press Advisory, undated, in
Conference Report: Brussels International Conference, 24-27 June 1997, p.
7.
[6]ICBL, “Expert
Meeting on Possible Verification Measures for a Convention to Ban Antipersonnel
Landmines,” in Conference Report: Brussels International
Conference, 24-27 June 1997, p. 10.
[7] Maria de los Angeles
Florez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cuba, Address to the Ottawa
Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines, Ottawa, December 2-4, 1997.
[20] “New mine fields
found in Angola,” AFP Luanda, 5 September 1998.
[21] Maria de los Angeles
Florez, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cuba, Address to the Ottawa
Conference on Antipersonnel Land Mines, Ottawa, December 2-4, 1997; and
“Cuba's Policy Concerning the Issue of Antipersonnel Landmines,”
24-27 June 1997.
[22]“Cuba's Policy
Concerning the Issue of Antipersonnel Landmines,” 24-27 June 1997.
[23] Captain Mike Doubleday,
USN, DASD, DoD News Briefing, 20 January 1998.
[24]Statement of U.S. Amb.
Donald Steinberg to the Regional Seminar on Antipersonnel Mines, Mexico City,
11-12 January 1999.
[25] Transcript of Press
Briefing on Landmine Policy, Washington, DC, 31 October 1997.
[26] Andres Oppenheimer,
“U.S. removing Guantanamo mines,” Miami Herald, 16 January
1998.
[27] Lt. Jane Campbell,
spokeswoman for U.S. Southern Command quoted in Angus MacSwan, “U.S.
Marines clear mines from Cuba base,” Reuters, Miami, 10 December
1997.
[28] Lt. Jane Campbell,
spokeswoman for U.S. Southern Command quoted in Angus MacSwan, “U.S.
Marines clear mines from Cuba base,” Reuters, Miami, 10 December
1997.
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