US indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro over 1996 plane shootdown

Nearly three decades after two civilian aircraft were shot down over waters near Cuba, US has indicted former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the deaths of four Cuban Americans in one of the most controversial incidents in US-Cuba relations. The US Justice Department (DOJ) on Wednesday announced charges against 94-year-old Castro accusing him of conspiracy to kill US nationals, murder and destruction of aircraft in connection with the 1996 attack on planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group. At the time of the incident, Castro was serving as Cuba’s defence minister and head of the military under the government led by his brother and a known revolutionary Fidel Castro. US attorney general Todd Blanche announced several charges, including murder, against Raúl Castro. The announcement was made outside Miami’s Freedom Tower, a landmark closely linked to the Cuban exile community and often called the “Ellis Island of the South”. The event took place on May 20, recognised as Cuban Independence Day, and drew loud cheers from the crowd gathered there. US officials also paid tribute to the four men killed in the attack: Armando Alejandre, Carlos Alberto Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña and Pablo Morales. Three were US citizens and one was a legal permanent resident. The aircraft belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, an organisation founded in 1991 by Cuban American pilot José Basulto and other Cuban exiles. The group became known for flying rescue missions in the waters between Cuba and Florida, helping Cubans attempting to flee the island on makeshift rafts. On February 24, 1996, two of the group’s planes were shot down by a Cuban MiG-29 fighter jet in what US authorities and international investigations described as international airspace. Cuba has consistently argued that the planes violated Cuban territory. Investigations by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights concluded that the victims “died as a consequence of direct actions taken by agents of the Cuban State in international airspace” and “that Cuba acted without using standard interception procedures.” The incident triggered condemnation from the Clinton administration and Congress, leading to sanctions against Cuba and criminal prosecutions linked to intelligence gathering on the exile group. For many Cuban Americans the case remained unresolved. Exile activists, victims’ relatives and several Cuban American lawmakers have spent years calling for criminal charges against Castro. Republican lawmakers Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, Nicole Malliotakis and María Elvira Salazar, who earlier this year urged the Justice Department to pursue charges, described the indictment as the “first step” toward justice.

Who is Raúl Castro?

Raúl Castro is one of the central figures of Cuba’s communist revolution and ruled the country for more than a decade after succeeding Fidel Castro as president in 2008. He officially stepped down as president in 2018 and later gave up leadership of the Communist Party in 2021. The indictment comes during a period of rising tensions between Washington and Havana. The Trump administration has increased pressure on Cuba’s government while criticising the country’s economic crisis and political leadership. US President Donald Trump recently said Cuba “really needs help,” adding that “they can’t turn on the lights, they can’t eat.” US secretary of state Marco Rubio also addressed Cubans directly in a video message, saying they were “going through unimaginable hardships.” “The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” Rubio said. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded by accusing the US of threatening Cuba’s sovereignty and independence. Meanwhile, worsening fuel shortages and prolonged blackouts continue to affect daily life across the island, with some residents reporting power cuts lasting more than 20 hours a day.

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