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The Trump administration on Wednesday unsealed a criminal indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, accusing him and several former Cuban military officials of orchestrating the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that killed four people, including three Americans.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges during an appearance at Freedom Tower in Miami, a landmark closely tied to Cuban exile history.
A federal grand jury in Miami returned the indictment April 23, charging Castro and five other former Cuban officials with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft and multiple counts of murder. The Justice Department publicly unsealed the case Wednesday, which also marks Cuban Independence Day.
The other defendants named in the indictment are Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez.
According to prosecutors, the defendants were involved in the Feb. 24, 1996, attack on planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian organization that searched for Cuban migrants attempting to flee the island by sea.
The attack killed Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales. Three of the victims were U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department alleges that Castro and his late brother, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, authorized the Cuban Air Force to use deadly force against the group’s aircraft after repeated flights near Cuban territory.
Prosecutors say Perez-Perez was one of the fighter pilots involved in shooting down the planes. The indictment also alleges Cuban intelligence agents based in Miami infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue and passed along details about planned flights to Cuban authorities.
“The indictment tells the world, ‘If you kill Americans, we will pursue you,’” Blanche said Wednesday. “This is not a show indictment.”
An arrest warrant has been issued for Castro, who is 94 and remains in Cuba. Asked whether the United States would seek extradition or pursue another operation to bring him into custody, Blanche declined to provide specifics but said, “We expect he will show up here, either by his own will, or another way, and go to prison.”
The Cuban government sharply criticized the charges. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel dismissed the indictment as politically motivated and accused the United States of distorting the events surrounding the shootdown.
In a social media post, Díaz-Canel described Brothers to the Rescue as a “narco-terrorist” organization and defended Cuba’s actions as legitimate self-defense. Cuban officials have long maintained the planes violated Cuban airspace, though an investigation by the International Civil Aviation Organization concluded the aircraft were shot down in international airspace.
The 1996 attack sparked outrage among Cuban Americans and led Congress to formally codify the longstanding U.S. embargo against Cuba into federal law.
The indictment comes amid renewed tensions between Washington and Havana and follows a recent visit to Cuba by John Ratcliffe, who met with senior Cuban officials earlier this month.
The Trump administration has also intensified sanctions targeting Cuba and countries supplying fuel to the island, worsening an economic crisis that has contributed to widespread blackouts and shortages.
Families of the victims have spent decades pushing for criminal accountability. Federal prosecutors had previously charged Cuban pilots connected to the attack, but neither Fidel nor Raúl Castro had ever before faced U.S. criminal charges tied to the incident.
Raúl Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018 after succeeding his brother, who ruled the country following the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Although he formally stepped down as head of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021, Castro remains an influential figure in Cuban politics.
