One big reason why is the very vocal, very belligerent crowd of Cuban exiles in Florida. Mas, a man with links to anti-Castro terrorists, wants to be the next president of Cuba. The last thing he and CANF want to see is the normalization of relations with Cuba. Given this history, Cuba had justification to shoot down the planes of Brothers To the Rescue. But since Cuba is still considered the sworn enemy of the U.S. government and the Cuban exiles in Florida will not allow any slack to be cut for Castro, this stupid Cold War sham battle will continue indefinitely.
Double standards are stubborn things.
That's why the downing of the two planes from Brothers To The Rescue, another anti-Castro group, on Feb. 24 seems so fishy to me. The group's planes have buzzed Havana on other occasions and dumped anti-Castro leaflets on the city. They've been warned to stay out of Cuban airspace. If that was the goal, it worked perfectly. The indignant reaction to the downing of the Cuban exiles was predictable, especially when one looks back on recent history and the double standard that's applied in incidents like this.