The United States is pursuing a federal indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, 94, over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes above the Florida Straits that killed four people.
The potential indictment, which must be approved by a grand jury, centres on Cuba’s deadly shootdown of aircraft operated by the Brothers to the Rescue exile group, which patrolled the straits searching for Cuban rafters attempting to reach American shores.
On February 24, 1996, two Cessnas were intercepted and destroyed by Cuban Air Force MiG fighter jets. The United States Congress later concluded that the planes were unarmed, flying defensively and posed no threat to Cuba. Cuban officials have long maintained the aircraft violated Cuban airspace.
At the time, Raúl Castro served as Cuba’s defense minister and commanded the country’s military and intelligence apparatus, making him the central figure in accountability demands from Republican lawmakers.
Four Republican lawmakers wrote to President Donald Trump in February, describing Castro as “responsible for the cold-blooded murders of three Americans and a U.S. permanent resident.”
A previous federal grand jury had already indicted two Cuban fighter pilots and a commanding Air Force general in connection with the killings. One man, Gerardo Hernandez, was convicted of murder conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison before being released in a 2014 prisoner swap.
The move against Castro arrived on the same day Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe led a delegation to Havana, delivering a message from Trump to Cuban officials and Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, a key figure within Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior.
The push for indictment forms part of a broader American pressure campaign that has seen the Trump administration threaten heavy tariffs on countries exporting oil to Cuba, producing widespread energy shortages across the island.
Momentum behind the indictment effort accelerated earlier this year after Trump ordered the seizure and extradition of Venezuelan former President Nicolás Maduro to face drug charges in the United States.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the reported indictment plans.
