The United States on Wednesday announced federal criminal indictments against former President Raul Castro cubaand five others, marking a significant intensification of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the six-year-old communist regime.
The 94-year-old political leader faces charges in Miami, Florida, including conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying an aircraft, as detailed in court documents obtained by CBS.
Among the other defendants is a fighter pilot who was previously charged over a 1996 incident in which four men were killed by a plane. cuban A military plane was shot down while on a humanitarian mission in the Florida Straits.
Castro allegedly ordered the attack.
Raul Castro: 5 things to know about his indictment
- The indictment comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba over Donald Trump Threats of military intervention have been issued to the Cuban government. Additionally, a strict U.S. oil embargo has exacerbated the energy crisis, causing rolling blackouts and triggering protests in the capital.
- Miami The Freedom Tower, which served as a processing center for more than half a million Cuban refugees fleeing Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution between 1962 and 1974, provides important context for the announcement.
- Raul Castro reportedly authorized the shooting down of two small planes on February 24, 1996, belonging to the Miami-based Brothers of the Rescue Volunteers, a group of exiles searching for refugees in the 90-mile stretch of sea between Cuba and the Florida Keys. The incident resulted in the deaths of four people: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena and Pablo Morales, whose Cessnas was hit by a missile fired by a Cuban Air Force MiG fighter.
- Raul Castro resigned as president in 2018 and as secretary of the Cuban Communist Party three years later; however, he remains one of the most influential figures in Cuban politics. Fidel Castro died in 2016 at the age of 90.
- It’s unclear whether he will be brought to a U.S. court to answer the charges.
Marco Rubio sends letter to Cuban people
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a message to the Cuban people on X. Expressing his thoughts in Spanish, he said: “The reason you are forced to live without electricity is not because of the U.S. oil blockade.
“There’s no power, fuel or food because those who control it have looted billions of dollars that are not being used to help the people.”
Cuba reacts to Marco Rubio’s post
Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Cossio talked about the matter in his own post on the X website.
“It is not ignorance or incompetence that the U.S. Secretary of State lies so repeatedly and brazenly when referring to Cuba and trying to justify aggression against the Cuban people,” he wrote.
“He was clear that there was no excuse for this brutal and callous aggression.”
