U.S. federal prosecutors today announced the indictment of Raul Castro, former Cuban president and brother of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, on charges of shooting down two civilian aircraft in 1996.
The U.S. Justice Department accused Castro, who was Secretary of Defense at the time of the incident, of ordering the Cuban Air Force to shoot down the plane.
The move increases pressure on the island, where the United States has had a near-total oil blockade in place since January, and raises concerns that Washington is preparing a similar operation to the one that ousted Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela earlier this year.
Today’s charges relate to the killing of four members of a Miami-based Cuban dissident group. Brothers who came to the rescue (Brothers to the Rescue), who was flying the plane when it was shot down on February 24, 1996. Three were U.S. citizens and one was a U.S. resident.
Castro has been formally charged with conspiracy to murder an American citizen, according to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanc.
Whether the plane was shot down in Cuban or international airspace is still debatable.
Florida’s attorney general announced in March that the state’s investigation into Raul Castro’s involvement would be reopened, a move that was supported by many Republican politicians, including Florida Sen. Rick Scott.
Tensions between the United States and Cuba are rapidly escalating as the North American superpower imposes a near-total oil blockade on the island, steps up punitive sanctions targeting Cuban officials and demands the resignation of current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel amid ongoing negotiations between the two countries.
Some have likened the charges brought against Castro to those against Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro before his arrest earlier this year. President Maduro was indicted in the United States in 2020 on drug trafficking charges, which served as justification for his forced removal from power by U.S. forces.
It remains to be seen whether the prosecution of Castro will lead to similar U.S. operations in Cuba.
Featured image: Raul Castro in 2016.
Image source: El Salvador Presidency via Wikimedia Commons
patent: Creative Commons License
