United States federal prosecutors have indicted Cuba’s former President Raul Castro in connection with the 1996 downing of planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, marks one of the sharpest escalations in tensions between Washington and Havana in years.
The US Department of Justice alleges that Castro, Cuba’s defence minister at the time, played a leading role in the decision to have Cuban fighter jets shoot down two civilian aircraft on February 24, 1996.
It has charged Castro with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying an aircraft. Five co-defendants were also named in the indictment.
Four people were killed in the 1996 attack, which triggered international condemnation and deepened the strains between the US and Cuba.
“ For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said as he announced the charges at Miami’s Freedom Tower.
“ My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.”
He described the four men who were killed — Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales — as “unarmed civilians” engaged in “humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits”.
“Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability,” Blanche added. “If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.”
The US has issued sanctions on the country and imposed a blockade on oil to Cuba that has resulted in blackouts and food shortages.
Earlier on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a message to the Cuban people timed to the country’s independence day.
“President Trump is offering a new path between the US and a new Cuba,” Rubio said.
Rubio told citizens of the island that a Cuban military run conglomerate known as GAESA is primarily responsible for the blackouts and food shortages that the country continues to endure.
GAESA owns or operates most of the lucrative parts of the Cuban economy from the ports to the petrol pumps to five-star hotels.
In response to Rubio’s message, Díaz-Canel accused the US of lying and imposing a collective punishment on the Cuban people.
Díaz-Canel also said that the indictment of Castro was being used to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba” and accused the US of distorting the facts around the downing of the plane.
He claimed that Cuba acted in “legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters”.
Orlando Perez, a political science professor at the University of North Texas at Dallas, mentioned that the timing of the indictment appears linked to a broader US pressure campaign against Havana.
“I think it’s important to look at the sequence of recent events,” Perez said.
He pointed to a visit last week from the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe, to Havana.
That meeting came as part of ongoing negotiations between the island’s communist government and the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has pushed for leadership change in Cuba.
There were also reports this month alleging Cuba had explored drone and asymmetric warfare capabilities, as Trump increases his pressure campaign against the island.
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