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US charges Raul Castro as Trump administration ratchets up pressure on Cuba

Historic murder charges against 94-year-old former leader mark the first time Washington has criminally pursued a Castro brother

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Former Cuban president Raul Castro attends a May Day rally in Havana, Cuba, on May 1. Photo: Reuters
Teresa Elena Frontadoin Miami
The United States announced on Wednesday criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro over his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an incident that killed four people.
The indictment, unsealed by acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche in Miami, includes charges of conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of an aircraft, and four individual counts of murder against the 94-year-old brother of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and five other co-defendants. The maximum penalty for at least one of the charges is life imprisonment.
It marked the first time the US government has sought criminal charges against either of the Castro brothers, whose 1959 revolution transformed Cuba into a communist state aligned against Washington for decades.
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Speaking from Miami’s Freedom Tower – where more than 400,000 Cubans fleeing the island after the revolution were processed – Blanche said: “For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans waited for justice. The US and President Trump do not and will not forget its citizens … If you kill Americans, we will pursue you no matter the charge you hold and in this case, no matter how much time has passed”.

Blanche said the indictment was intended to lead to Castro’s eventual arrest and prosecution in the United States.

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“This isn’t a show indictment,” Blanche told reporters. “We expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way and go to prison.”

A Brothers to the Rescue plane flies over The Democracy Movement flotilla at the ‘12-mile limit’ north of Havana, Cuba, July 10, 1999. Photo: AP
A Brothers to the Rescue plane flies over The Democracy Movement flotilla at the ‘12-mile limit’ north of Havana, Cuba, July 10, 1999. Photo: AP
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