{"id":691,"date":"2026-05-21T15:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=691"},"modified":"2026-05-21T15:34:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T15:34:37","slug":"trump-u-s-raise-pressure-on-cuba-with-raul-castro-indictment-were-going-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=691","title":{"rendered":"Trump, U.S. raise pressure on Cuba with Raul Castro indictment: \u2018We’re going to see’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the island’s socialist government.<\/p>\n

Read more WATCH LIVE: NOAA reveals outlook for 2026 Atlantic hurricane season<\/a><\/p>\n

The indictment accuses Castro of ordering the shootdown of two small planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, who turns 95 next month, was Cuba’s defense minister at the time. The charges, which were secretly filed by a grand jury in April, included murder and destruction of an airplane. Five Cuban military pilots were also charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,\u201d acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in Miami at a ceremony coinciding with Cuban independence day to honor those killed. \u201cThey were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida straits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to what lengths American authorities would go to bring Castro to face charges in the U.S., Blanche said: \u201cThere was a warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what will happen next for Cuba, President Donald Trump said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to see.\u201d He added that the U.S. is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to a \u201cfailing nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The charges pose a real threat, observers said, following the capture by U.S. forces in January of former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to face drug charges in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to have to keep his head pretty low from now on,\u201d said Peter Kornbluh, a specialist on the U.S.-Cuba relationship at the National Security Archive at George Washington University.<\/p>\n

Cuban president condemns indictment<\/h2>\n

While it remains unclear whether Castro will ever step foot in a U.S. courtroom, the murder and conspiracy charges carry the potential for life in prison or the death penalty upon conviction.<\/p>\n

Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel condemned the indictment as a political stunt that sought only to \u201cjustify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.\u201d In a message on social media, he accused the U.S. of lying and manipulating events surrounding the shootdown, including ignoring repeated warnings by Cuban officials at the time that they would defend against \u201cdangerous violations\u201d of their airspace \u201cby notorious terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMeanwhile, the White House shared a photo that shows Ra\u00fal Castro next to other leaders, including Venezuela’s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and the late Supreme Leader of Iran, under the words “Enemies of America Neutralized by President Trump.” NBC6’s Julia Bagg reports.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Among those attending Wednesday’s ceremony in downtown Miami was Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was killed while she was away for her first year of college.<\/p>\n

Over the years, she spoke to multiple federal investigators about charging Castro, referring to him as \u201cone of the main architects of the crime.\u201d But none until now had the courage to seek justice for her family and the other victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been long overdue,\u201d she said standing before a giant photo of her father.<\/p>\n

Trump has threatened military action for months<\/h2>\n

Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured Maduro, the Cuban government\u2019s longtime patron. After ousting the Venezuelan leader, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.<\/p>\n

Since Maduro’s capture, Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging earlier this year to conduct a \u201cfriendly takeover\u201d of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNew details and reaction to the historic indictment of Cuba’s Raul Castro in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

Trump\u2019s first administration indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and used that to justify removing him from power and whisking him to New York to face trial.<\/p>\n

Read more Man, 82, accused of dealing crack cocaine to two others in Little Havana<\/a><\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged the Cuban people to demand a free-market economy with new leadership that he said will chart a new course in relations with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people,\u201d Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said in a Spanish-language video message. \u201cCurrently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Castro believed to wield power behind the scenes<\/h2>\n

Castro took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, D\u00edaz-Canel, in 2018.<\/p>\n

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Ra\u00fal Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez Castro, who previously met secretly with Rubio.<\/p>\n

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including Castro\u2019s grandson. Two other senior State Department officials met with the grandson in April.<\/p>\n

The investigation into Castro stretches back to the 1990s<\/h2>\n

In 1995, planes flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue buzzed over Havana dropping leaflets urging Cubans to rise up against the Castro government.<\/p>\n

After Cuban protests, the Federal Aviation Administration also opened an investigation and met with the group\u2019s leaders to urge them to ground the flights, according to declassified government records obtained by the National Security Archive.<\/p>\n

But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes a short distance north of Havana just beyond Cuba\u2019s airspace. All four men aboard were killed. A third plane, carrying the group’s leader, narrowly escaped.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Castro faced earlier indictment<\/h2>\n

Guy Lewis, who was a federal prosecutor in Miami in the 1990s, first uncovered evidence linking senior Cuban military officials to cocaine trafficking by Colombia\u2019s Medellin cartel. Following the shootdown, the investigation expanded, and prosecutors pursued charges against Ra\u00fal Castro for leading a vast racketeering conspiracy by Cuba\u2019s armed forces.<\/p>\n

In the end, only the head of the Cuban air force and two of the MiG pilots involved in the downing of the planes were indicted but have never been apprehended.<\/p>\n

A fourth individual was convicted of leading a Miami-based spy ring called Operation Scorpion that collected intelligence about the flights. He was later swapped for a U.S. intelligence asset imprisoned in Cuba as part of President Barack Obama’s outreach to Cuba.<\/p>\n

The shootdown led the U.S. to harden its position against Cuba, even though the Cold War had ended and the Castros\u2019 support for revolution across Latin America was a fading memory.<\/p>\n

But Castro himself was spared as the Clinton administration raised concerns about such a high-profile indictment.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters David Fischer in Miami; D\u00e1nica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Meg Kinnard in Houston; Will Weissert in Washington; Michael Weissenstein in New York; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and VJ Edgecombe headline NBA\u2019s All-Rookie teams<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors have announced charges against former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles.\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump, U.S. raise pressure on Cuba with Raul Castro indictment: \u2018We're going to see' - Jacksonville Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jacksonvillemovingnews.com\/?p=691\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump, U.S. raise pressure on Cuba with Raul Castro indictment: \u2018We're going to see' - 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