U.S. Justice Department To Seek Raúl Castro Indictment Over 1996 Brothers To The Rescue Deaths

The U.S. Justice Department is hosting an event on Wednesday at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, and Cuban exiles are expecting an announcement about an indictment of Raúl Castro tied to the 1996 deaths of four Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue volunteers at sea.

WPLG Local 10 reported that Andy Gomez said, “Sources in Washington tell me that he will be indicted tomorrow,” while the same report said the Justice Department was preparing to seek the indictment for causing the deaths of the volunteers.

ABC7 San Francisco

The case centers on the Feb. 24, 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessna 337 Skymasters that departed from the Opa Locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m., with Air-to-air missiles fired from Cuban Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets hitting both planes.

WPLG Local 10 said the missiles killed Alejandre, 45; Costa, 29; and De la Peña, 24, and also killed Morales, 29, a U.S. resident, and that “Both Cessna aircraft broke up in the air from the explosions of the missiles, the wreckage impacted the sea and sank,” according to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s report.

The Independent described the possible criminal charge as requiring grand jury approval and said it risks “significantly escalating tensions with Havana,” as the U.S. reportedly intensifies its pressure campaign against Cuba.

In the same timeline, The Independent quoted Miguel Díaz-Canel’s response to Trump’s earlier call for Cuba “to make a deal BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” saying, “Those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way.”

Al Jazeera

CBS News framed the indictment steps as a focus on the 1996 shootdown that killed four people, noting that the U.S. is taking steps to indict Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old who led Cuba after Fidel Castro’s retirement.

CBS News also described how the Brothers to the Rescue organization, founded by José Basulto, flew search-and-rescue flights over the waters between Florida and Cuba, and it reported that an air traffic controller warned Basulto he was “taking a risk,” before Basulto responded, “we are ready to do so as free Cubans.”

USA TODAY said the possible indictment would come as the U.S. has been steadily increasing pressure on Cuba after the January capture of Nicolás Maduro, including cutting off its oil supply, tightening sanctions, and hinting at potential military action.

USA TODAY quoted Peter Kornbluh saying, “An indictment of Raúl Castro is essentially the Trump administration's declaration of war on Cuba,” and it reported that it would be perceived as such “in Cuba and around the world.”

El País reported that the Miami State Attorney’s Office is preparing an indictment and that the move could happen this Wednesday at an event in the Freedom Tower in Miami, describing it as unprecedented for the exile community.

El País also said the confession it described was recorded in June 1996 and included Raúl Castro’s statement, “I used to tell them to try to shoot them down over the territory, but they would fly into Havana and leave,” as the U.S. Department of Justice intends to prosecute him for the deaths of four people aboard the aircraft.