The United States has charged former Cuban leader Raúl Castro with conspiracy to kill US nationals and other offences over the 1996 downing of two aircraft between Cuba and Florida.
The case, unveiled on Wednesday, accuses Castro and five others of involvement in the shooting down of planes belonging to the Cuban-American group Brothers to the Rescue, which killed four people, including three Americans, reports BBC.
Castro, now 94, was serving as head of Cuba’s armed forces at the time and faced widespread international condemnation following the incident.
As Washington seeks to intensify pressure on Cuba’s communist government, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the charges as “a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation”.
Speaking at Freedom Tower in Miami, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the US would also charge Castro with destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder over the deaths of Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña and Pablo Morales.
“The United States, and President Trump, does not, and will not, forget its citizens,” Blanche said.
The charges are expected to be argued in a US court, with some carrying the possibility of life imprisonment. Each murder count carries a maximum sentence of death or life imprisonment.
The US Justice Department’s move targets one of the most recognisable figures of Cuba’s communist leadership at a time when the island nation faces mounting pressure from Washington to implement major political and economic reforms under its one-party system.
“I think the strategy is to increase the pressure gradually to the point where the Cuban government will give in and surrender at the bargaining table,” said Wiliam LeoGrande, an expert on Latin American politics at American University.
The United States has imposed sanctions on Cuba and enforced restrictions on oil supplies to the island, contributing to blackouts and food shortages.
Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a message to the Cuban people to coincide with the country’s independence day.
“President Trump is offering a new path between the US and a new Cuba,” Rubio said.
Rubio accused a Cuban military-run conglomerate known as GAESA of being mainly responsible for the blackouts and food shortages affecting the country.
GAESA controls or operates many of the most profitable sectors of the Cuban economy, including ports, fuel distribution and luxury hotels.
Responding to Rubio’s remarks, Díaz-Canel accused the United States of spreading falsehoods and imposing collective punishment on the Cuban people.
He also said the indictment of Castro was being used to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba” and accused Washington of distorting the facts surrounding the downing of the aircraft.
Díaz-Canel maintained that Cuba acted in “legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters”.
When reporters asked about the possibility of bringing Castro to the United States to face trial, Blanche confirmed that an arrest warrant had been issued.
He declined to say whether the US would attempt to capture Castro, but added: “we expect he will show up here, by his own will or another way”.
LeoGrande said he believed Washington was prepared to capture the former Cuban leader “if the Cubans don’t surrender at the bargaining table”.
In January, the United States carried out a military operation to seize former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the US after he was indicted by the Justice Department.
The operation significantly altered relations between Washington and Caracas. However, LeoGrande said a similar outcome was unlikely in Cuba, noting that Castro stepped down nearly a decade ago.
Approaching 95 years of age, Castro, the younger brother of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, remains an influential figure and is recognised on the island as the surviving “leader of the Cuban Revolution”.
Although he has withdrawn from active party and government duties, Castro oversaw a brief thaw in relations between Washington and Havana during his presidency from 2008 to 2018 alongside former US president Barack Obama.
Blanche said he would “not compare cases” involving Castro and Maduro.
US President Donald Trump was also asked about the political implications of the indictment.
“A lot of those people are related to me in the sense that I’ve had such a great relationship with Cuban-Americans,” Trump said. “On a humanitarian basis, we’re here to help.”
Cuban-Americans welcome charges
The Miami venue where US officials announced the indictment was packed with Cuban-Americans, many representing exile groups that have opposed the Cuban government from the United States for decades.
Surrounded by photographs of the four victims killed in the 1996 incident, many attendees expressed satisfaction over the charges.
“It was time, 67 years of that murderous regime,” said Isela Fiterre. “Raúl Castro did not merely kill four individuals. Over the course of many years, he has killed countless people,” Fiterre said.
She added that justice can still be achieved and thanked the Trump administration for taking the step.
Another attendee, Mercedes Puid-Soto, shared similar views.
“I feel very happy. Justice has been served,” she said. “It’s very important that the families can close that chapter, and we Cubans too.”
However, questions remain over whether the Trump administration could use the indictment in the same manner as the Maduro case.
“Whether the Trump administration will use this indictment in a similar way that it used the indictment against Maduro, as a justification to carry out a military operation under the cover of a law enforcement action,” said Roxanna Vigil, an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“It’s unlikely that the Cuban regime will surrender to the United States without a fight,” Vigil noted. “And any move that includes working with the Cuban regime would be very difficult for the Cuban diaspora in the United States to accept.”
US and Cuban representatives, including Castro’s grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, have reportedly held discussions in recent months. However, the new charges against the former Cuban president are unlikely to improve those contacts.
Instead, Cuban authorities appeared to reinforce their position of “no surrender, no concessions” in response to US pressure, with state media condemning what they called “false accusations”.
