Hostage killed in foiled plane hijacking in Cuba
By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Two Cuban army deserters tried to hijack a passenger plane to escape to the United States with hostages on Thursday but were arrested after killing an unarmed military officer on board, the government said.
The soldiers, who fled from an army base where they were doing military service, commandeered a city bus with several passengers before dawn, drove it onto the tarmac of Havana airport's domestic terminal and seized an empty airliner.
They killed one hostages, army Lt. Col. Victor Ibo Acuna, when he tried to stop the hijacking, but were then captured by security forces, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
"Effective and coordinated action allowed security forces to frustrate the kidnappers' plans and save the lives of the other hostages," it said.
The two young men had been on the run since escaping on Sunday from an army base with two AK-47 rifles. They shot dead a soldier and wounded another in their escape. A third deserter was arrested earlier, the government said.
Cuba blamed the attempted hijacking on the U.S. policy of encouraging Cubans to escape to the United States by offering them virtually automatic residency.
"The responsibility for these new murders falls on the highest U.S. authorities, adding to a long list of terrorist acts that Cuba has been victim of for almost half a century," the government said.
Armed hijackings are rare in Cuba. In March 2003, two domestic passenger planes were hijacked to Key West, Florida. A month later, three men who hijacked a Havana Bay ferry in a bid to cross the Florida Straits were executed by firing squad.
The soldiers deserted from an army base in Managua, about 15 miles (25 km) south of Havana, home to one of Cuba's largest tank regiments.
A leaflet distributed earlier this week by police searching for the fugitive recruits in Havana identified them as Alain Forbus, 19, Yoan Torres, 21, and Leandro Cerezo, 19, from the eastern province of Camaguey.
It said they had abandoned their guard posts at the tank base and were armed and dangerous.
The plane they seized was a Boeing 737 owned by Spain's Hola Airlines and leased to Cuba's national carrier, Cubana, for flight to Venezuela, an airline source said.
In December, three recruits killed two officers and escaped from an army unit in eastern Cuba with their weapons, but were quickly captured and are awaiting trial, according to Cuba's main human rights group.
Two Cuban military deserters made a failed attempt to skyjack a Spanish Hola Airlines Boeing 737, leased by Cubana Airlines and headed for Venezuela. An unarmed military officer was killed in the process.

The two soldiers, Leandro Cerezo Sirut and Alain Forbus Lameru, both 19 years old, took over a local bus and then drove it to the airport and onto the tarmac in an attempt to hijack a plane. Once on the plane, they attempted to take the officer hostage and when they tried to do so, the officer fought back and foiled the hijacking. The soldiers were attempting to flee Cuba and head for the United States.

A statement by Cuba's Interior Ministry praised the officer's action: "Despite being unarmed, he heroically tried to prevent the commission of the terrorist act. Effective and coordinated action allowed security forces to frustrate the kidnappers' plans and save the lives of the other hostages," and also blamed the U.S. for the hijacking attempt.

"The responsibility for these new crimes lies with the highest-ranking authorities of the United States, adding to the long list of terrorist acts that Cuba has been the victim of for nearly half a century," added the statement.

Both of the soldiers, along with a third soldier, Yoan Torres Martinez, 21, were arrested. All three are believed to have escaped from the military base, causing a shootout which killed one soldier and injured at least one other, in which they were stationed.

Several passengers were on the bus, but no one was hurt. There were no crew or additional passengers on the plane at the time it was boarded.