U.S. indicts Cuba’s Raúl Castro on murder and conspiracy charges for downing of planes in 1996

Washington — Federal prosecutors in Florida on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five others in connection with the deadly shooting down of two planes by the Cuban military 30 years ago, with officials unveiling the charges at a news conference in Miami.

The federal criminal charges against Castro, 94, brother of the late Fidel Castro and widely considered one of Cuba’s most famous men. powerful characters — marks an escalation in Trump administration policy pressure campaign against the Cuban government. Castro was president of Cuba from 2008 to 2018 and a top official in the country’s Communist Party from 2011 to 2021.

CBS News was first to report that the United States was preparing to indict Castro.

Castro was indicted in Miami on April 23 on one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying aircraft. A judge on Wednesday granted prosecutors’ request to unseal the 20-page indictment.

The charges relate to the Cuban Air Force’s decision in February 1996 to shoot down two civilian planes flown by the Florida-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four people. The indictment says the planes were outside Cuban airspace at the time of the shootdown.

The other five defendants are identified as Cuban fighter pilots, including one who was originally charged in connection with the shooting more than two decades ago.

“For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the news conference. “My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump will not and will not forget its citizens.”

It is unclear whether Castro will ever be tried, since Cuba does not extradite people to the United States. Former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was indicted on drug charges in 2020. Earlier this year, he was indicted on drug charges. captured by American forces and flown to New York to stand trial, a bold operation that led to the installation of an interim leader who now works closely with the United States.

Asked by reporters how Castro could be brought to the United States for trial, Blanche gave no details but said “this was not a sham indictment” and that the Justice Department intended to try the case. He added that “there are all sorts of different ways” to bring defendants who are in other countries to trial.

The indictment alleges that Castro — who led the Cuban armed forces at the time — “met with military leaders and authorized them to use decisive and deadly action” against Brotherhood to the Rescue planes in January 1996, after several rounds of earlier flights by the group to drop leaflets.

“All orders to kill issued by the Cuban army passed through [the armed forces’] chain of command with [Raúl Castro] and Fidel Castro as final decision-makers,” prosecutors said.

The indictment also alleges that Cuban intelligence commissioned a network of spies in Florida to report on Brothers to the Rescue. Several members of the spy ring were indicted more than two decades ago, including one man convicted of conspiracy to murder in connection with the 1996 shooting.

The indictment constitutes a radical criticism of the Cuban regime.

“The Castro regime established and maintained its control over Cuba and its people through a reign that eliminated dissent, preserved their power, territory and reputation, and, through the expropriation and nationalization of private businesses, financed these objectives,” the indictment reads.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla condemned the indictment, calling the allegations against Castro “illegitimate and illegal” and reiterating Cuba’s long-standing claim that he shot down the Brotherhood’s rescue flights in self-defense. He called Brothers to the Rescue a “terrorist” group.

Rodríguez argued on X that the United States was trying to justify “intensified aggression against the Cuban people.”

Brothers to the Rescue planes shot down

The 1996 incident involved a Cuban MiG-29 fighter jet that shot down two Cessnas operated by Brothers to the Rescue, which was searching for Cubans seeking to flee the island nation on rafts. Three American citizens and a green card holder on board the planes were killed.

The United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization found that the planes were flying outside Cuban airspace when they were shot down, something Cuba denies. The organization also said Cuban authorities made no attempt to deal with the planes by other means, including contacting them by radio or guiding them out of the area.

The shooting sparked outrage. The Organization of American States said Cuba had violated international law, and then-President Bill Clinton condemned it “in the strongest possible terms.” Congress responded by strengthening U.S. sanctions against Cuba.

The Cuban government has denied any wrongdoing, insisting the planes were shot down in Cuban airspace. Cuba accused Brothers to the Rescue members of repeatedly violating Cuban airspace to drop leaflets, and claimed the group planned to sabotage Cuban infrastructure.

On Tuesday evening, Cuba’s top diplomat, Lianys Torres Rivera, posted on social media a link to declassified FAA documents from 1996, in which U.S. officials predicted the “worst case scenario: One of these days the Cubans would shoot down one of these planes and the FAA better have all its ducks in a row.”

At the time of the shooting, Raúl Castro was the country’s defense minister and the indictment alleges that he authorized the use of force against Brothers to the Rescue. In a 1996 interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather, then-Cuban President Fidel Castro acknowledged issuing “general orders” to prevent planes from encroaching on the country.

In addition to Castro, the indictment charges one of the fighter pilots who allegedly shot down the two planes, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, with conspiracy, murder and destruction of planes. Perez-Perez was previously charged over the 2003 incident, along with the other pilot of his MiG-29 and the now-deceased former head of the Cuban Air Force. The case never went to trial.

Four other fighter pilots were charged with conspiracy in the new indictment. They were accused of participating in “training missions using Cuban military aircraft to find, track, pursue and intercept small civilian aircraft off the coast of Cuba” in the period before the Brotherhood to the Rescue incident.

The indictment also describes extensive efforts by the Cuban government to infiltrate Brothers to the Rescue and gather information about the group’s thefts, deploying a spy network known as the Wasp Network.

This espionage effort – known as Operation Scorpion – allegedly involved a Cuban double agent named Juan Pablo Roque, who defected to the United States in the early 1990s but returned to Cuba a day before the flights were shot down. The indictment alleges that Roque “falsely informed the FBI that [Brothers to the Rescue] would not fly during the weekend of February 24, 1996.” It also says that Cuban intelligence officials told Roque and another person not to fly with Brothers to the Rescue during the weekend of the shooting.

Roque, who died last year, denied serving as a Cuban spy.

Several members of the spy ring were convicted in federal court more than a decade ago, including alleged leader Gerardo Hernández, who was sentenced to life in prison for conspiracy to murder in connection with the shooting. Hernández returned to Cuba in a 2014 prisoner exchange.

What’s next for Cuba-US relations?

Now, with the indictment of Raúl Castro, prosecutors are charging a figure who has held important positions in Cuba since his brother Fidel toppled the U.S.-backed leader in 1959. Raúl succeeded his brother as head of the Cuban Communist Party in 2011. He resigned as party leader a decade later, but remained influential, and his grandson — often known as “Raulito” – is a key point of contact with US officials.

This indictment comes after months of tensions between the United States and Cuba. The Trump administration has threatened to impose high tariffs on any country that ships oil to Cuba, leading to widespread energy shortages and power grid outages on the island.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney in Miami launched an initiative earlier this year to consider prosecuting Cuban leaders, including for economic, drug, immigration, and violent crimes.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued that Cuba must undertake radical economic and political reforms and suggested that the current Cuban regime – which he said is run by “incompetent and senile men” – must change. Hours after Maduro’s capture, Rubio highlighted Cuba’s dependence on Venezuela and told reporters: “If I lived in Havana and I was in government, I would be worried, at least a little.” »

In a video message posted online Wednesday morning, Rubio urged the Cuban people choose “a new path”. Meanwhile, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos F. de Cossio posted on social media on Wednesday that Rubio is “lying” about Cuba because he “knows very well that there is no excuse for such a cruel and merciless aggression.”

President Trump did not exclude military, repeatedly asserting that it is interested in a “friendly takeover” of Cuba and that this country could be “next” after the war between the United States and Iran. Mr. Trump also suggested he was open to negotiation.

“Cuba is asking for help and we will talk about it!!!” he wrote in a Truth Social article last week.

Despite tensions, U.S. officials have visited Havana for talks at least twice this year, CIA Director John Ratcliffe meeting with Raúl Castro’s grandson last week. Administration also offered separately Cuba $100 million in humanitarian aid.

A CIA official said Ratcliffe told Cuban leaders that the Trump administration offered “a real opportunity for collaboration” and a chance to stabilize Cuba’s struggling economy. But Ratcliffe cautioned, the official added, that this opportunity would not remain open indefinitely and that the administration would impose “red lines” if necessary.