Federal prosecutors chargedRaúl Castro, Cuba's former president, with murder and conspiracy Wednesday for allegedly ordering the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes that killed four Cuban exiles on a humanitarian mission.
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The 94-year-old Castro faces six federal charges filed in Miami, including conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft. Five other defendants were also charged in connection with the February 24, 1996 incident in the Florida Straits.
Cuban MiGs Target Rescue Planes
Castro allegedly authorized Cuban air force MiG fighters to fire missiles at two Cessnas belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based volunteer group that searched waters between Cuba and Florida Keys for refugees. The attack killed Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.
The group regularly flew over the 90-mile stretch between Cuba and Florida to spot refugees fleeing the communist island. One defendant is a Cuban fighter pilot previously charged in the incident.
Prosecutors announced the charges at Miami's Freedom Tower, where more than half a million Cuban refugees were processed as immigrants between 1962 and 1974 after fleeing Fidel Castro's revolution.
Timing Escalates US-Cuba Tensions
The indictment comes as Trump threatens military action against Cuba's government while the island faces an energy crisis from US oil embargoes. Rolling blackouts and protests have hit Havana as the communist regime struggles with power shortages.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a message to Cubans on Wednesday, writing in Spanish:
The reason you are forced to survive without electricity is not due to an oil blockade by America. No electricity, fuel or food is because the people who control it have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people.
Rubio's comments mirror his previous criticism of Cuba's leadership, as Insider Wire previously reported.
Castro stepped down as Cuba's president in 2018 and resigned as communist party secretary three years later, though he remains influential in Cuban politics. His brother Fidel died in 2016 at age 90.
Whether Castro will ever face a US court remains uncertain. The charges represent the Trump administration's most direct legal challenge to Cuba's aging revolutionary leadership and signal an escalation in efforts to pressure the regime.
