ABSTRACT
The US government also accused Cuba of being “opposed to US counterterrorism policy.” Extradition, however, would only take place with countries that had negotiated a bilateral anti-hijacking accord with Cuba. Che Guevara suggested that the United States and Cuba negotiate an agreement, which would address the issue of hijackings from both countries and put an end to this “dangerous” practice. The issue of pursuing better relations between the United States and Cuba was set aside for years to come but airplane piracy emerged as a significant, and escalating, terrorist phenomenon that neither country could afford to ignore. But, with a dozen hijackings to Cuba in the first two months of 1969 alone, the new Nixon administration secretly entered into talks with Castro about returning the perpetrators of the hijackings to the United States. Che suggested “discussion of the airplane issue” as a starting point for talks between the United States and Cuba on peaceful coexistence.
