Quicker return for hijack victims
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The State Department said yesterday the Fidel Castro regime had agreed to speed up the return of passengers aboard hijacked U.S. airliners by allowing them to fly out on the same plane that took them to Cuba.
Some U.S. officials viewed the "understanding," worked out through the Swiss Embassy in Havana, as a hopeful sign that some formal agreement might soon be reached that would return hijackers to the United States for prosecution.
Until Monday, Cuba would only permit the crew of a hijacked airliner to fly back to the United States on it. Passengers had to remain behind and wait, usually overnight, for a chartered plane to arrive from Miami to fly them out.
State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey said the United States was gratified by the "understanding," but he noted it did not solve the basic hijacking problem. As for progress toward that goal, he said he could only express "hope."
McCloskey said the "understanding" was not a blanket agreement to expedite the return of passengers aboard all planes, but would be decided on a case-by-case basis. U.S. officials, however, elected the new procedure to be followed by the Cubans in most cases.
Last summer, Cuban Premier Castro announced that for "reasons of safety" hijacked airliners would not be permitted to return to the United States with their passengers aboard. He never really explained what he meant by "reasons of safety."
Monday, an Eastern Air Lines DC8 returned to Miami with 109 passengers and eight crewmen six hours after a gunman forced the pilot to fly to Cuba after taking off from San Juan, P.R. It was the 14th U.S. airliner hijacked to Cuba this year.
McCloskey explained the informal agreement had been reached with the help of the Swiss, who represent U.S. interests in the Communist country.
New jet hijacked despite security
CARACAS, Venezuela (UPI)
- A brand-new Venezuelan jetliner was hijacked in flight ye terday and forced to land in Cuba by a group of terrorists numbering perhaps seven persons. At least seven U.S. citizens were among the 73 passengers and crewmen aboard.
The American Embassy said passengers aboard the sleek DC9, only recently acquired by the Venezuelan state-owned Linea Aeropostal Venezolana, (LAV), included U.S. tire and oil company executives resident in Caracas and Maracaibo.
The twin-engined, short-range jet was seized in flight less than eight minutes after its 6:35 a.m. takeoff from Maracaibo, Venezuela's oil capital, for Maquietia, the coastal airport serving Caracas.
It was the 15th hijacking of the year, 10 of which have been of U.S. carriers.
Details of the hijack were scarce but Ramon Granadillo, president of LAV, said he had been told it was carried out by between five to seven persons. A government source said the hijackers apparently slipped aboard while workmen were repairing a damaged cargo hatch cover minutes before the scheduled takeoff.
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