U.S. Indicts Raúl Castro Over 1996 Shootdown That Killed Three Americans

The U.S. indicted Raúl Castro, Cuba’s former president, in Miami for charges tied to the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an attack that killed four people including three Americans.

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the United States “will not forget its citizens,” as the indictment was secured by a grand jury in Miami on April 23 and unsealed on Wednesday, which is recognized as Cuban Independence Day.

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The indictment alleges Castro was instrumental in the shooting down of two U.S. planes in 1996, and it accuses Castro and other former senior Cuban leadership and military figures of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four individual counts of murder.

NPR reported that the indictment was announced at Miami’s Freedom Tower, and it identified the four killed as Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.

The Guardian said the indictment was issued in US district court for the southern district of Florida and charged Castro with conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft, as the Trump administration escalated its campaign against Cuba’s six-decade communist regime.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment as a “political move by the U.S. with no grounding in the law,” and he said the U.S. “lies and distorts the events surrounding the downing of the planes.”

In a statement read on state TV, the Havana government condemned the “despicable accusation” made against Castro, calling it “a despicable and infamous act of political provocation.”

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Todd Blanche told reporters that “This is not a show indictment,” and he said, “We expect he will show up here, either by his own will, or another way, and go to prison.”

Marco Rubio addressed the Cuban people in Spanish, saying “The reason you are forced to survive without electricity is not due to an oil blockade by America,” while CBS News reported Rubio also offered a proposed $100 million influx of food and medicine.

The Guardian reported Trump told reporters there “won’t be an escalation” with Cuba, while also saying, “Look, the place is falling apart. They’ve really lost control of Cuba.”

The indictment arrives as the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Cuba intensifies, with NPR describing tightened sanctions and a fuel blockade that contributed to a prolonged economic crisis, alongside rolling blackouts and disruptions to hospitals and schools.

CBS News reported Rubio’s video message blamed GAESA for Cuba’s shortages and said the offer of $100 million in relief supplies must be distributed through the Catholic Church or other charitable groups to avoid it being “stolen by GAESA to sell in one of their stores.”

CNN said the indictment comes at a tense time for US-Cuban relations, with the Trump administration declaring the Cuban government is a threat to US national security, and it also linked Cuba’s energy collapse to an oil blockade following the US attack on Cuba’s oil-rich ally Venezuela.

The Guardian framed the case as part of a significant escalation aimed at ousting Cuba’s six-decade-old communist regime, and it quoted Blanche saying, “For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens.”

NBC News reported that families of the four Miami pilots killed and other community members cheered the indictments, while it described the Freedom Tower announcement as a symbolic backdrop for Cuban Americans who escaped the Castro regime and made it to Florida.