DOJ Seeks Raúl Castro Indictment Over 1996 Brothers to the Rescue Plane Shootdown

The United States is moving to indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro over a 1996 plane shootdown, with USA TODAY citing two sources familiar with the matter and saying possible charges are tied to the Cuban government shooting down two planes operated by a humanitarian group in 1996.

“cuba Possible US indictment of former Cuban president Raul Castro in coming days: Sources The investigation centered around the 1996 shootdown of planes”

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USA TODAY reports that any indictment would have to be issued by a grand jury after being presented with evidence, and it places the development hours after CIA Director John Ratcliffe led a delegation to Havana on May 14 to deliver a message from President Donald Trump to Cuban officials and Raúl "Raulito" Guillermo Rodriguez Castro.

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PBS, citing three people familiar with the matter, says the Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against Raúl Castro as President Donald Trump threatens possible military action, and it links the potential indictment to Castro's alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

PBS adds that Castro was defense minister at the time, and it says any criminal charge would need to be approved by a grand jury, while NBC News says the case must go before a grand jury which decides whether to indict Castro.

Reuters, via U.S. News & World Report’s factbox, says on February 24, 1996, Cuban jets shot down two small planes being flown by Brothers to the Rescue, and it reports that all four men aboard were killed.

Trump’s Cuba posture is intertwined with the indictment effort, with PBS saying the potential indictment would dramatically escalate tensions with Havana and ramp up expectations of U.S. military action in Cuba.

NBC News reports that Trump said the Castro investigation was a question for the Justice Department, quoting him aboard Air Force One: "So we’re going to see."

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NBC News also says charges were expected to be revealed during a public event in Miami on May 20th, which it describes as Cuban independence day, and it adds that the law enforcement effort was part of a wider campaign designed to force the regime to bow to U.S. demands.

The Miami Herald reports that a federal indictment charging Raúl Castro for the murders of four people in the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 is expected to be unsealed Wednesday, to coincide with a May 20 event organized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida to honor the four victims.

In the same Miami Herald account, Brian Fonseca, vice provost for defense and national security research and director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University, called the indictment "symbolic" and said it was the symbolism of indicting "one of the arch enemies of the Cuban American community".

The indictment is tied to the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, with Reuters’ factbox in U.S. News & World Report stating that Cuba said the planes were in Cuban airspace while the United States said they were over international waters.

U.S. News & World Report’s Reuters factbox says the International Civil Aviation Organization concluded the attack took place over international waters, and it reports that the Miami-based group’s mission was to search the Florida Straits for Cuban rafters fleeing the island.

USA Today adds that on Feb. 24, 1996, two planes operated by a humanitarian group were patrolling the Florida Straits looking for endangered Cuban rafters trying to reach U.S. shores when they were shot down by Cuban Air Force MiG fighter jets.

USA Today also says the U.S. Congress later concluded that Brothers to the Rescue “were flying unarmed and defenseless planes in a mission identical to hundreds they have flown since 1991 and posed no threat whatsoever to the Cuban Government, the Cuban military, or the Cuban people.”

PBS frames the stakes by saying any indictment would escalate tensions with Havana and ramp up expectations of U.S. military action, while it also notes that the Trump administration ordered an economic blockade that led to severe blackouts, food shortages and a collapse in economic activity across the island.