US brings criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro

Washington: The United States has brought murder charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, in a major escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the country’s communist government.

The indictment, issued by a grand jury in Miami last month and unsealed on Wednesday (US time), charges Castro and others with four counts of murder, conspiracy to kill US nationals and the destruction of aircraft.

It relates to a 1996 incident in which two American civilian aircraft operated by a group of Cuban exiles known as the Brothers to the Rescue were shot down in international waters by Cuban military jets. Four men were killed.

Acting US Attorney-General Todd Blanche announced the charges at a news conference in Miami attended by dignitaries, Cuban exiles and families of the victims, who cheered and applauded the government’s actions.

“For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country ... for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens,” he said. “Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability.

“President Trump has committed to restoring a very simple but important principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are and no matter what title you hold – and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.”

Five other people are named as co-defendants in the indictment.

Castro, 94, last appeared in public in Cuba earlier this month, and there is no evidence that he has since left the island or that the government would allow him to be extradited.

Asked what steps the US was willing to take to get Castro to American soil, Blanche said there were many ways of getting foreign nationals to face justice.

“How we go about doing that depends on the circumstances of the case, and I’m not going to go beyond that… But this isn’t a ‘show’ indictment. We expect that he will show up here by his own will, or by another way.”

The indictment comes as Donald Trump pushes for regime change in Cuba, where Castro’s communists have been in charge since his late brother, Fidel Castro, led a revolution in 1959.

Cuba will be “next”, Trump has said multiple times, following the military operation to abduct then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in early January and the war in Iran that began at the end of February.

Maduro was taken to New York and jailed to face charges related to drug trafficking, which were first levelled against him under the first Trump administration in 2020.

Trump said it was an important day for Cuban-Americans, as “a lot of people have suffered very big”. Pressed on what he might do next to bring down the regime, he played down the prospects of US military intervention.

“No, there won’t be escalation, I don’t think there needs to be. The place is falling apart, it’s a mess. They’ve really lost control of Cuba,” Trump said.

The US would have to provide humanitarian assistance, he added, as “they have no way of living, they have no food, they have no electricity, they have no energy at all. But they do have great people.”

The Trump administration has imposed a naval blockade on Cuba and imposed sanctions on other countries selling fuel to Havana, leading to crippling fuel, food and electricity shortages.

On the same day the indictment was unsealed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio – a Cuban American born in Miami – delivered a video message in Spanish addressed directly to the Cuban people, offering them “a new Cuba” with freedom and opportunity.

The US was “ready to open a new chapter” in the two countries’ relationship, Rubio said, and could provide $US100 million in aid. The only thing standing in the way, he said, was “those who control your country”.

After taking power, Fidel Castro struck an alliance with the Soviet Union and seized US-owned businesses and properties. The US has since maintained an economic embargo on the nation of about 10 million people.

The two sides have talked intermittently over the years. Diplomatic relations briefly improved during former Democratic president Barack Obama’s second term, but Trump has taken a harder line.

Cuba condemns charges as ‘farce’

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said his government condemned the “farce” of the US charges against Raul Castro, calling them illegitimate.

“It is an act that rests on lies and conceals duly documented historical truths about the events that led to the downing [of the planes],” he said.

Rodriguez described Brothers to the Rescue - the group of Cuban exiles to which the victims belonged - as a terrorist organisation, and accused the Trump administration of terrorism through its deadly strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the region.

Born in 1931, Raúl Castro was a key figure alongside his older brother in the guerrilla war that toppled the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.

He helped defeat the US-organised Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, and served as defence minister for decades. He succeeded his brother as president in 2008 and stepped down in 2018, but remains a powerful behind-the-scenes figure in Cuban politics.

Castro was the defence minister at the time of the 1996 incident, in which two small planes were shot down and four men killed. The crew was a group of Miami-based Cuban exile pilots who said they were searching for Cuban rafters fleeing the island.

The Cuban government has maintained that the strike was legitimate. Fidel Castro said Cuba’s military had acted on “standing orders” to down planes intruding on Cuban airspace and that Raúl Castro did ⁠not give ​a specific order to fire.

The US condemned the attack and imposed sanctions, but didn’t pursue criminal charges against either of the Castro brothers. The Justice Department charged three Cuban military officers in 2003, but they were never extradited.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation later concluded that the incident took place over international waters.

With Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.