Key
developments since March 1999: Cuba participated as an observer in the
First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty and in some of the
treaty’s intersessional meetings. It abstained on the 1999 UN General
Assembly vote in support of the treaty, as it had in previous years.
Mine Ban Policy
Cuba and the U.S. are the only countries in the
Americas region that have not yet joined the Mine Ban Treaty. Cuba’s
landmine policy has not changed in 1999 or 2000. In June 2000, Cuba provided
Landmine Monitor with an eight-page statement, which presented its position in
detail. Cuba indicated that it cannot join the treaty because:
... for the time being, it is not possible for it to fulfil the
responsibilities deriving from that international legal instrument and mainly
because the possession and use of antipersonnel landmines form part of the
country's defense doctrine called ‘People’s War.’ The defense
concept of the Republic of Cuba is the result of the Cuban people's willingness
to defend its sovereignty and independence [which is] constantly threatened by
the manifest hostility of nine Administrations of the United States of America,
which have planned, promoted, encouraged, supported, and carried out a vast
number of aggressive and subversive actions against the Cuban people and
Government.[1]
Cuba noted in the statement that “on several occasions, the Cuban
Government has publicly expressed that it understands and shares the
humanitarian concerns caused by the indiscriminate and irresponsible use of
antipersonnel landmines” and it described it’s “full support
to the humanitarian efforts made by the international community to prevent or
mitigate the effects of the indiscriminate use of this kind of
weapons.”[2]
Cuba was one of twenty countries that abstained in the December 1999 vote on
UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B in support of the Mine Ban Treaty. It
previously abstained on pro-ban UNGA resolutions in 1996, 1997, and 1998. In
explaining the vote, Cuba’s representative stated that while his country
was against the use of mines in internal conflicts, and against any use of mines
that could affect civilians, the final objective of negotiations should be to
ensure maximum security to civilians, and not to limit States’ right to
preserve their territorial integrity. He said, “Cuba would thus abstain
on the vote, because for four decades it had been subject to a policy of
aggression and could not afford to renounce the use of that weapon. It was
determined to create a necessary balance between humanitarian and security
issues and do all possible to protect civilians from the danger of those
weapons.”[3]
Cuba’s Ambassador to Mozambique, S.E. Sr. Evelio Dorta, participated as
an observer in the First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in
Maputo in May 1999. Cuba was one of 12 non-signatories at the meeting but did
not make a statement to the plenary.
Cuba has participated in some of the intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban
Treaty in Geneva. In May 2000, Cuba’s Geneva UN Mission representative
attended the Standing Committee of Experts (SCE) on the General Status and
Operation of the Convention and the SCE on Technologies for Mine Action.
Cuba is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its original
Protocol II on landmines but has not yet ratified Amended Protocol II. Cuba
participated as an observer in the December 1999 First Annual Conference of
States Parties to Amended Protocol II, but did not make a statement to the
plenary. In the past, Cuba has said it considers Amended Protocol II as
“potentially the most effective legal instrument the international
community could use to resolve the humanitarian problems caused by the
indiscriminate use of antipersonnel
landmines.”[4] In June
2000, Cuba told Landmine Monitor that it is currently considering the
possibility of ratifying amended Protocol
II.”[5]
Cuba is a member of the Conference on Disarmament (CD). In 1997, Cuba
expressed concern that negotiations on AP mines in that forum could detract from
what should be the CD’s priority, nuclear
disarmament.[6]
Production
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Cuba
has produced at least five different kinds of landmines, including three AP
mines.[7] It is believed, in
the absence of any denial or clarification from the Cuban government, that
Cuba's state-owned Union of Military Industries (Unión de las Industrias
Militares, UIM) continues to produce AP mines.
Transfer
Cuban AP mines have been found in Nicaragua and
Angola.[8] However, Cuba has at
least since 1996 maintained that it does not and has never exported
antipersonnel mines.[9] This
was reiterated in the statement provided to Landmine Monitor in June 2000, which
also stated Cuba’s “readiness to participate actively in
international negotiations for the implementation of a regime for the
comprehensive ban on exports of all kinds of mines.” It also noted,
“There is not a retail network in Cuba for weapons sale, including
antipersonnel landmines, to legal or natural
persons.”[10] While Cuba
has declared no current or past export, it has not announced a formal moratorium
or ban on the export of AP mines.
Based on information in the military trade press, it appears that Cuba has
imported antipersonnel landmines from the former Soviet Union including the
OZM-4, POMZ-2, and
POMZ-2M.[11]
Stockpile
The size and composition of the Cuban AP mine stockpile is not known.
Use
The
U.S. and Cuba have laid landmines around the U.S. Guantánamo Naval Base
occupying Cuba’s southeast corner. An estimated 735 acres of land were
seeded with approximately 70,000 AP and AT mines at the beginning of
1961.[12] Cuba states that it
laid mines after the U.S. had done
so.[13]
The bulk of Cuba’s June 2000 statement to Landmine Monitor is devoted
to a description of “the real reasons compelling Cuba to lay and
maintain” the AP mines in the perimeter surrounding the Guantánamo
Naval Base.[14] Cuba describes
these mines as having “an exclusively defensive nature.... They are
intended to prevent violations and acts of provocation, as well as to guarantee
peace and safety in the areas adjacent to the Base. These mines also serve the
military purpose of preventing U.S. troops from expanding with impunity the
perimeter they occupy illegally and from launching offensive actions into the
Cuban territory.”[15]
Cuba says it will not remove its mines “until the Americans leave the
base.”[16]
Cuban authorities state that the Cuban minefields are duly “marked,
fenced and guarded” to ensure the protection of civilians, as stipulated
by the CCW’s Amended Protocol
II.[17]
Outside of the country, Cuba is known to have used mines in Angola and to
have trained Angolan forces in mine warfare. A Cuban manual was the standard
text for mine warfare for Angolan
troops.[18]
U.S. Mines in Cuba
In May 1996, the U.S. through a presidential policy
statement announced that it would remove the “more than 50,000
mines...deployed on the U.S. side of the buffer
zone....”[19] Clearance
began in September 1996 and was completed in
1999.[20] The U.S. Department of
Defense has declared that twenty-one minefields were cleared. All
AP and AT mines were removed from Guantánamo. A private company, Ronco
Consulting, was contracted by the Department of Defense to conduct a minefield
verification/quality assurance plan to determine the presence of any undetected
landmines at Guantánamo Bay. Dogs and specially designed blast-proof
tractors verified that none were missed. The U.S. military saw the clearing of
the mines as “a military operation, not a humanitarian
operation.”[21]
Cuba described the “alleged” removal of U.S. landmines from
Guantánamo as “a measure of relative importance” since
“that country has the necessary troops and means to quickly restore the
deactivated minefields if it so wishes or deems it
appropriate.”[22]
Even though all emplaced mines have now been removed, it is not known whether
the U.S. maintains a stockpile of mines at Guantánamo.
Mine Action
In 1997 Cuba informed the UN of its willingness to
participate in international humanitarian mine clearing operations and to assist
landmine victims.[23] To date
Cuba has not contributed to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Mine Clearance and
is not known to be involved in any mine clearance activities. Cuba maintains
that it is contributing to mine action through the hundreds of Cuban volunteer
doctors who provide medical assistance and treatment in various parts of the
world. At present, thousands of Cuban medical doctors are serving in 14
countries in regions including Central America, the Caribbean and Africa as part
of its Comprehensive Healthcare Delivery
Program.[24]
Landmine Casualties
At least 23 people have been killed in
Guantánamo’s minefields since 1961, including 18 U.S. servicemen
and 5 Cuban asylum seekers.[25]
There are no known casualties in 1999 or 2000. It is possible that Cuban
soldiers participating in conflicts overseas have been killed or maimed by AP
mines but no information is available. While there is no specific program to
deal with Cuban landmine survivors, Cuba has a free and universal healthcare
system described in detail in the June 2000 statement to Landmine Monitor.
[1] Statement of the Directorate of
Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine
Monitor researcher, sent by email, 19 June
2000. [2]
Ibid. [3] Statement during the debate in
First Committee of the UN General Assembly, 9 November
1999. [4] The UN Disarmament Yearbook,
1998, (Geneva: United Nations, 1999), p.
123. [5] Statement of the Directorate of
Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June
2000. [6] The UN Disarmament Yearbook,
1997, (Geneva: United Nations, 1998), p.
109. [7] PMFC-1 AP fragmentation mine,
PMFH-1 AP fragmentation mine, PMM-1 AP wooden box mine. U.S. Department of
Defense, ORDATA II CD-ROM. For details, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p.
316. [8] Jane’s Mines and Mine
Clearance, on-line update, 18 November
1999. [9] Report of the UN
Secretary-General, “Moratorium on the Export of Antipersonnel
Landmines,” (A/51/313), 28 August
1996. [10] Statement of the Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June
2000. [11] Jane’s Mines and Mine
Clearance, on-line update, 18 November
1999. [12] Roger Ricardo, Guantanamo,
the Bay of Discord: The Story of the U.S. military base in Cuba (Melbourne:
Ocean Press, 1994), p. 4. [13] Statement
of the Directorate of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, 19 June 2000. [14] In its
statement to Landmine Monitor, Cuba inserted information from “Evidence
Report submitted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces to the Civil and
Administrative Court of Law, Provincial People’s Court, in The People of
Cuba vs. The Government of the United States of America for Human
Damages,” Ediciones Verde Olivo, Havana, Cuba,
1999. [15] Statement of the Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June
2000. [16] “Guantanamo
Mine-Clearing Nearly Complete,” Caribbean Update, 29 July
1999. [17] Statement of the Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June
2000. [18] Alex Vines, Still Killing:
Landmines in Southern Africa (New York: Human Rights Watch, May 1997), p.
37. [19] Captain Mike Doubleday, DoD
News Briefing, 20 January 1998. [20] DoD
News Briefing, 29 June 1999. Responding to a report that all mines had been
removed, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon confirmed it, noting
“they’ve been gone for probably four to six
months.” [21] “State
Guidance on U.S. Demining 2010 Initiative,” 12 December 1997,
http://www.usia.gov/current/news/latest/97121201.plt.html?/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml [22]
Statement of the Directorate of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, 19 June 2000. [23]
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. [24] Statement of the Directorate
of Multilateral Affairs of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 June
2000. [25] A. Oppenheimer, "U.S.
removing Guantanamo mines," Miami Herald, 16 January 1998; Angus Mc Swain,
“US Marines Clear Mines from Cuba Base,” Reuters, Miami, 10 December
1997.
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