This Wednesday, May 20—an emblematic date for Cubans—arrives at a moment of heightened tension between President Donald Trump’s administration and the government in Havana, along with expectations of announcements that could come in the next few hours.
Read more US-Cuba tensions grow as Trump weighs talks and new sanctions
Florida Republican members of Congress Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar, and Carlos A. Giménez—along with their colleague Nicole Malliotakis (New York)—will hold a joint press conference Wednesday to push for a formal indictment of Cuban leader Raúl Castro over his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of the civilian aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue.
In their remarks to the media, the lawmakers also aim to underscore “the threat to national security that the Castro regime poses to the United States.”
A statement notes that earlier this year, in February, the four lawmakers sent a asking his administration to consider “bringing a formal indictment against Raúl Castro for his involvement in the 1996 shootdown of the civilian aircraft of Brothers to the Rescue, which resulted in the cold-blooded murder of four people, including (three) U.S. citizens.”
Meanwhile, a Department of Justice event has been confirmed for Wednesday afternoon at the Freedom Tower in Miami.
DATE AND TIME
The press conference in Washington, D.C., will be held at 9 a.m. on May 20, a date considered Cuba’s Independence Day, following centuries of Spanish rule (1511–1898) and a U.S. military occupation (1899–1902) that gave way to the creation of the Republic of Cuba.
As for the event organized by the Department of Justice, it has been scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Freedom Tower in Miami.
Read more DOJ, Florida leaders to make announcement in Miami during Brothers to the Rescue celebration
The event, which will also be livestreamed, points to an announcement and a ceremony honoring the victims of Brothers to the Rescue. The Department of Justice said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, FBI Deputy Director Christopher G. Raia, U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier will attend.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE POSSIBLE INDICTMENT?
Last week, it became known that the U.S. Department of Justice is preparing an indictment against Raúl Castro, according to a source familiar with the matter who confirmed it to NBC News.
A Department of Justice official said the case would be tied to Cuba’s 1996 shootdown of two humanitarian aircraft from Brothers to the Rescue, NBC News reported.
THE BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE CASE
The potential indictment, which would have to be approved by a federal grand jury, would focus on the Feb. 24, 1996, attack, when Cuban military aircraft shot down two civilian planes belonging to the Miami-based humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, killing four people.
The victims were Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, Armando Alejandre Jr., and Pablo Morales, members of Brothers to the Rescue, a group primarily dedicated to locating and assisting Cuban rafters in the Florida Straits.
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