Netflix has reached a settlement in a defamation lawsuit brought by the leader of a Cuban exile organization over the portrayal of him in the political spy thriller Wasp Network. The lawsuit, filed by Jose Basulto, accused Netflix of falsely depicting him as a terrorist and drug trafficker in the film directed by Olivier Assayas.
According to a notice of settlement filed on Wednesday, lawyers for Jose Basulto and Netflix informed the court of the resolution, although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. A jury trial, which was scheduled to begin next month, will no longer proceed.
The film Wasp Network, released in 2019 and marketed as “based on a true story,” is adapted from the book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War by Fernando Morais. The lawsuit alleged that Netflix made concessions to Cuba, which purportedly influenced the making of the movie to present a favorable version of history and to film in the country. The suit pointed to requirements by Cuba’s film office that prohibited the filming of scripts deemed “detrimental to the image of the country and people of Cuba.”
Among the alleged concessions made by Netflix were the portrayal of Basulto as a puppet of the United States and a traitor to Cuba, the romanticization of crimes committed by Fidel Castro’s regime, and the favorable portrayal of the Cuban Five, a group of spies dispatched by Cuba in the early 1990s to infiltrate exile groups based in Miami.
The complaint stated that the film was an attempt to rewrite history in favor of the communist Cuban regime and was factually inaccurate. It portrayed the Cuban Five as heroes defending their homeland, while in reality, they were a spy network providing intelligence that enabled the Cuban government to carry out extrajudicial killings.
The lawsuit claimed that the film falsely represented Basulto’s nonprofit organization as a terrorist group to justify spying by the Cuban Five. It cited findings in legal proceedings related to the 1996 incident where two Brothers to the Rescue planes were shot down, and members of the group were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and other charges.
Specific defamatory statements cited in the complaint included the movie’s portrayal of Basulto’s character as “Trained by the U.S. as a terrorist” and labeling Brothers to the Rescue as a “militant organization.”
Basulto brought claims for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, seeking an injunction against Netflix from further distributing the movie or a court order to edit certain scenes and remove references to the movie being based on true events. Olivier Assayas was initially named in the complaint but was dismissed in January because he was not served with a complaint.
This is not the first time Netflix has faced legal action over depictions in its projects. Other individuals, including Alan Dershowitz and a former Soviet chess grandmaster, have also sued the streamer over their portrayals in various titles.
In 2020, Cuban exile Ana Martinez also sued Netflix over her portrayal in a movie as a promiscuous “party girl.”
