MIAMI, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that the state has secured an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown — nearly 30 years after four men were killed.
“It was not an accident. What happened was murder,” Uthmeier said at a news conference held at Florida International University’s College of Law. “What happened? It was murder. The evidence makes abundantly clear that there was a conspiracy.”
The announcement was made inside FIU’s Campora Justice Courtroom, named in honor of the four men killed in the shootdown: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandro Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.
Castro, 95, is accused of first-degree murder and allegedly ordering the killings. Court documents allege Cuban spies monitored the Naval station in Key West and transmitted flight data ahead of the attack. Castro already faces a federal indictment for the same incident, announced in May.
“For over 30 years, government officials did nothing,” Uthmeier said. “Today the wait is over.”
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