{"id":655032,"date":"2026-05-20T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655032\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:53:08","slug":"us-announces-charges-against-former-cuban-leader-raul-castro-in-1996-aircraft-shootdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655032\/","title":{"rendered":"US announces charges against former Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro in 1996 aircraft shootdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges<\/a> against former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro<\/a> in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the socialist government.<\/p>\n

The indictment<\/a> was related to Castro\u2019s alleged role in the shootdown of two small planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, now 94, was Cuba\u2019s defense minister at the time<\/a>. The charges included murder and destruction of an airplane.<\/p>\n

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other top Justice Department officials made the announcement in Miami at a ceremony to honor those killed in the shootdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cThey were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida straits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to what lengths American authorities would go to bring Castro to face charges in the U.S., Blanche said: \u201cThere was a warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government, he said, indicts people outside the United States \u201call the time\u201d and uses a variety of methods to bring them to justice.<\/p>\n

Cuban president condemns indictment<\/p>\n

Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel condemned the indictment and accused the U.S. of lying and manipulating the events of 1996. He called it \u201ca political action without any legal basis\u201d that only seeks to \u201dbolster the case they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz-Canel wrote on X that Cuba acted in \u201clegitimate self-defense within its territorial waters after repeated and dangerous violations of its airspace by notorious terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said U.S. officials at the time had been warned about the violations but allowed them to continue.<\/p>\n

Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was among those who died, said the charges were \u201clong overdue.\u201d She said her father only wanted to bring freedom to his Cuban homeland.<\/p>\n

Over the years, she spoke to multiple federal investigators about charging Castro. She referred to him as \u201cone of the main architects of the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened military action for months<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured the Cuban government\u2019s longtime patron, Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>. After ousting Maduro, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages<\/a> and an economic collapse across the island.<\/p>\n

Since Maduro\u2019s capture, Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging earlier this year to conduct a \u201cfriendly takeover\u201d of the country<\/a> if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s first administration indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and used that to justify removing him from power during a surprise military raid in January that whisked the Venezuelan leader to New York to face trial.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged the Cuban people to demand a free-market economy with new leadership that he said will chart a new course in relations with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people,\u201d Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said in a Spanish-language video message. \u201cCurrently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Castro believed to wield power behind the scenes<\/p>\n

Castro took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, D\u00edaz-Canel, in 2018.<\/p>\n

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Ra\u00fal Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez Castro, who previously met secretly with Rubio.<\/p>\n

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana<\/a> for meetings with Cuban officials, including Castro\u2019s grandson. Two other senior State Department officials<\/a> met with the grandson in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe symbolic nature is absolutely crucial,\u201d said Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman, a former prosecutor at the U.S. attorney\u2019s office in Miami who handled national security cases and crimes involving Cubans.<\/p>\n

The indictment can be used \u201cas a pressure point, a tactical advantage, to extract other concessions like the release of prisoners or to keep Russia out,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The investigation into Castro stretches back to the 1990s<\/p>\n

Starting in 1995, planes flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded by Cuban exiles, buzzed over Havana dropping leaflets urging Cubans to rise up against the Castro government.<\/p>\n

The Cubans protested to the U.S. government, warning that they would defend their airspace. Federal Aviation Administration officials also opened an investigation and met with the group\u2019s leaders to urge them to ground the flights, according to declassified government records obtained by George Washington University\u2019s National Security Archive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis latest overflight can only be seen as further taunting of the Cuban Government,\u201d an FAA official wrote in an email to her superiors after one intrusion in January 1996. \u201cWorst case scenario is that one of these days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes.\u201d<\/p>\n

But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes a short distance north of Havana just beyond Cuba\u2019s airspace. All four men aboard were killed.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Castro faced earlier indictment<\/p>\n

Guy Lewis, who was a federal prosecutor, uncovered evidence linking senior Cuban military officials to cocaine trafficking by Colombia\u2019s Medellin cartel. Following the shootdown, the investigation expanded, and prosecutors pursued charges against Ra\u00fal Castro for leading a vast racketeering conspiracy by Cuba\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence was strong,\u201d Lewis said in an interview.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Clinton administration indicted four individuals, including the MiG pilots, the head of the Cuban air force and the head of a Cuban spy network in Miami \u2014 the only one to see the inside of a U.S. prison \u2014 for providing valuable intelligence about the flights.<\/p>\n

The incident led the U.S. to harden its position against Cuba, even though the Cold War had ended and the Castros\u2019 support for revolution across Latin America was a fading memory.<\/p>\n

But Castro himself was spared as the Clinton administration \u2014 which had quietly sought to expand relations with Cuba prior to the incident \u2014 raised foreign policy concerns about such a high-profile indictment.<\/p>\n

\u201cRa\u00fal was definitely one who slipped through the noose,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cThe crime is notorious. Three U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident were killed in a premeditated orchestrated murder. That should never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

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