U.S. Indicts Raúl Castro Over 1996 Brothers To The Rescue Shoot-Down Killing Four Americans

The U.S. indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on murder charges tied to the Feb. 24, 1996 shoot-down of two unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue over international waters, with acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche saying the charges stem from a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles and killing four Americans.

“Helen Yaffe, in her frequent, regular trips to Cuba for the last 30 years, remembers once when a Category Four hurricane barrelled its way to the island”

Al Jazeera

The indictment, announced during a news conference in front of Miami’s Freedom Tower, also names five Cuban fighter pilots as defendants, and the Justice Department said the superseding indictment was unsealed charging Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, of Holguin, Cuba, along with Lorenzo Alberto Perez‑Perez of Las Tunas, Cuba, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas, and Luis Raul Gonzalez‑Pardo Rodriguez.

Al Jazeera

Blanche told the crowd that “For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” while Trump said in a statement earlier on Wednesday that “America will not tolerate a rogue state harbouring hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just ninety miles from the American homeland.”

The AP reported that the charges include murder and destruction of an airplane, and that the indictment was secretly filed by a grand jury in April, while NBC News said the indictment accuses Castro of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, murder, and destruction of aircraft.

Cuban officials and Cuban-Americans condemned the indictment as a political escalation, with Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel condemning the charges as a stunt that sought only to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.”

In Havana, the official newspaper Granma urged Cubans to gather outside the US embassy in Havana on Friday morning, and a 30-year-old accountant, Fabian Fernandez, told AFP in Havana that “It’s a matter of politics and public image,” while Pedro Leal, a 65-year-old retiree, called the U.S. move “criminal.”

AP News

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the U.S. had a warrant for Castro’s arrest and “So we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way,” and Trump told reporters “We’re going to see.”

Al Jazeera also reported that Trump’s rhetoric intensified on Wednesday, with Trump stating plainly that “Cuba is next,” while Al Jazeera described Cuba’s Civil Defence releasing a multi-page guide titled The Family Guide for Protection Against Military Aggression amid the indictment.

The indictment’s legal stakes were described by AP as carrying the potential for life in prison or the death penalty upon conviction, while Blanche said the U.S. was ready to provide humanitarian assistance to a “failing nation” if the case proceeds.

“HAVANA - Cubans expressed their shock and indignation after the United States indicted former president Raul Castro on murder charges, a stunning new escalation by President Donald Trump of pressure on the communist state”

Bangkok Post

AP also linked the pressure campaign to the January capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, noting that the charges pose a real threat following that seizure, and Al Jazeera framed the indictment as part of a mounting pressure campaign that included executive orders declaring Cuba a “significant threat” to US national security.

In Miami, Blanche said the U.S. was honoring victims of the incident at a ceremony coinciding with Cuban independence day, and NBC News reported that the civilian planes belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded in 1991 by Cuban American pilot José Basulto and other exiles.

The Justice Department’s unsealed superseding indictment listed Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, and five co-defendants, while the AP reported that it remains unclear whether Castro will ever step foot in a U.S. courtroom and that the murder and conspiracy charges were filed after a grand jury in April.