MIAMI — The Justice Department brought charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 killings of four people involved in civilian rescue flights, a major escalation by the Trump administration to ramp up pressure against the communist island.
The indictment, returned by a grand jury in Miami following an investigation led by federal prosecutors in South Florida, was unsealed Wednesday. It alleges conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.
“My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not — and will not — forget its citizens,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a ceremony in Miami. “We also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years.”
The indictment, which includes several other individuals, comes as the U.S. has put heavy pressure on Cuba through new sanctions on Cuban entities and individuals, a visit from the CIA director, cutting off oil shipments from Venezuela and threatening to impose additional sanctions on other countries that tried to send oil. The island has been plagued by blackouts that have disrupted transportation, health care, water and food supplies.
The indictment centers on a Feb. 24, 1996, incident that drew widespread international condemnation. Cuban fighter jets shot down two planes on international waters that were operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a humanitarian exile group that searched for Cuban migrants who’d fled the communist nation and were stranded at sea.
Fidel Castro defended the shoot down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes, saying the killings of three Americans and one permanent resident were justified and accusing them of threatening national security. Raúl Castro was Cuba’s defense minister at the time of the incident.
The charges also create a dynamic similar to that of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was charged by the U.S. with drug trafficking in 2020 and then captured this year in a raid in Caracas carried out by the U.S.
Castro, 94, is the brother of the late Fidel Castro and is still seen as one of the most powerful figures in Cuba despite stepping down as the leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021. Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, his grandson, has served as his representative in discussions with the U.S.
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