The United States recently announced that murder charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 shootdown of planes operated by a Cuban exile group, escalating pressure on Cuba as President Donald Trump pushes a tougher policy toward Havana.
According to Reuters, Castro, 94, was charged with one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft over the incident in which Cuban military jets shot down two planes operated by Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
The group said it searched for Cuban rafters fleeing the island, while Cuba maintained the planes violated its airspace. The International Civil Aviation Organization later concluded the shootdown occurred over international waters.
Reuters reported that the indictment also names five Cuban fighter pilots and marks one of the rare instances in which the United States has filed criminal charges against a former foreign leader.
Speaking at a ceremony in Miami honouring the victims, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said authorities expected Castro to eventually face the charges. “There was a warrant issued for his arrest, so we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way,” Blanche said.
The charges come amid a broader expansion of Washington’s pressure campaign against Cuba under Trump. Reuters reported that Trump said earlier on Wednesday that the United States would “drive out the forces of lawlessness and crime and foreign encroachment” across the Western Hemisphere.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment, calling it “a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation.” He defended Cuba’s actions in the 1996 incident and warned against any attempt to justify military action against the island.
Reuters also reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a $100 million aid offer to Cuba on Wednesday while simultaneously blaming Cuban authorities for shortages of food, electricity and fuel. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez dismissed the offer as cynical and pointed to the impact of the US economic blockade.
Raúl Castro, who fought alongside Fidel Castro during the 1959 revolution, served for decades as Cuba’s defense minister before becoming president in 2008 and stepping down in 2018. Reuters noted that he remains an influential figure in Cuban politics despite no longer holding office.
The indictment follows the January arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. authorities on drug trafficking charges in New York, reflecting the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive posture toward leftist governments in Latin America, according to Reuters.
