The United States is reportedly planning to indict former Cuban President Raul Castro in connection with the downing of planes 30 years ago.
The potential indictment – which would need to be approved by a grand jury – is expected to focus on Cuba’s deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, CBS News reports.
Four men were killed when the two civilian aircrafts were shot down over the Florida Straits on flights focused on spotting Cubans fleeing communism in makeshift boats. The group would then relay their coordinates to the US Coast Guard.
There is allegedly a 12-minute recording in which Castro could be heard discussing the planning and execution of the shootdown, according to NBC Miami.
Florida’s Attorney General previously said at a news conference in March he was reopening a state investigation into the plane downing – something the families of the victims said they would support.
‘At this point, yeah, it’d be great if they could bring him and whatever he has left in his life, spend it in prison,’ said Mirita Mendez, whose younger brother, Carlos Costa, was killed in the plane shoot out.
Raul, 94, formally stepped down as the leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021, but he is still widely seen as one of the most powerful figures in the country.
The indictment comes as the US continues to put pressure on the Cuban government.
Former Cuban President Raul Castro, 94, is pictured at a celebration on May 1
US President Donald Trump (pictured in China on Thursday) has pressed for major reforms in Cuba and has even floated a ‘friendly takeover’ of the communist country
US President Donald Trump has pressed for major reforms in the communist country and has even floated a ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba.
The Trump administration has also threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, leading to energy shortages as oil shipments are largely cut off.
Amid the threat, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials – including Castro’s grandson – on Thursday.
Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, Interior Minister Lázaro Álvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services, and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues.
The CIA director was there ‘to personally deliver President Donald Trump´s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,” the CIA official said.
An official statement from Cuba’s government noted that Thursday’s meeting ‘took place … against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.’
Raul formally stepped down as the leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021
While the US stressed that Cuba cannot continue to be a ‘safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,’ the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to US security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation’s continued inclusion on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Rodríguez Castro also previously secretly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community summit in St. Kitts in February. While he´s never occupied a government post, he served as his grandfather´s bodyguard and later as head of Cuba´s equivalent of the Secret Service.
US and Cuban officials also met earlier this year in Cuba.
But Miami’s top federal prosecutor has also spearheaded a new initiative targeting Cuban communist leaders over economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations – specifically focusing on Communist Party leaders.
Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott has also recently called on the Department of Justice to charge Castro and bring him to justice in the US.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
