The administration of United States President Donald Trump has issued criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian planes, killing four.
On Wednesday, in a speech from Miami’s Freedom Tower, acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche described the indictment as a historic moment.
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“For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens,” Blanche said.
“Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability.”
The criminal charges against Castro — a prominent figure in Cuba’s Communist Party — and five co-defendants is poised to further ratchet up tensions between Cuba and the US.
Since returning to office for a second term, Trump has escalated sanctions and implemented a de facto fuel blockade against the island, in a bid to prompt leadership change in Havana.
On Wednesday, Trump said, “America will not tolerate a rogue state with hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just ninety miles [145km] from us. We will not rest until people of Cuba once again have freedom.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, released a video statement on X in which he addressed the Cuban people.
He blamed the current economic and humanitarian problems in Cuba on its leadership, and he reiterated the US government’s offer of $100m in humanitarian assistance in exchange for reform.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, however, described the 1996 shootdown as an act of “legitimate self-defence”.
He added that the US “knows full well — for there is abundant documentary evidence — that no reckless actions were taken, nor was international law violated”.
How does the indictment fit into US strategy?
The case against Castro, 94, centres on the 1996 downing of two planes operated by a Cuban exile group, Brothers to the Rescue.
Critics, however, argue the indictment forms part of a broader US neocolonial effort to tighten its grip on Cuba through sanctions, economic coercion and diplomatic isolation.
Since the 1960s, the US has placed a trade embargo on Cuba, the longest of any country in modern history.
But that economic strain was heightened in January, when Trump cut off the exchange of funds and fuel between Venezuela and Cuba.
He then threatened economic penalties against any country that supplied Cuba with fuel, effectively blockading the country’s foreign oil supply.
Cuba’s aging infrastructure is heavily reliant on oil imports, and the island has suffered country-wide blackouts in the months since, deepening an already severe economic crisis.
Although Castro ended his term as president in 2018, he remains one of the most influential figures in Cuban politics following the death of his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2016.
The Castro brothers were leaders in the 1959 Cuban Revolution, which brought the island’s communist government to power.
Since the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January and Washington’s subsequent takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry, the US has renewed its focus on Cuba, pushing for regime change and economic reforms.
Trump has also hinted he is considering US military action if his demands are not met.
But Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez struck a defiant tone earlier this month.
“Despite the [US] embargo, sanctions and threats of the use of force, Cuba continues on a path of sovereignty towards its socialist development,” Rodriguez said.
Who is Raul Castro?
Born in 1931, Raul Castro played a central role alongside his older brother, Fidel, in the rebellion campaign that overthrew repressive US-backed leader Fulgencio Batista.
He later helped repel the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and went on to become one of the leading figures of the Cuban Revolution.
Castro served as Cuba’s minister of the armed forces from 1959 until 2008, making him one of the world’s longest-serving defence ministers. He was also a member of the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo from 1965 until 2021.
He succeeded Fidel Castro as president in 2008 and remained in office until 2018, but has continued to wield significant influence behind the scenes since stepping down.
During his presidency, Raul Castro oversaw a thaw in relations with Washington under former US President Barack Obama.
“The American people are among our closest neighbours. We should respect each other. We have never held anything against the American people. Good relations would be mutually advantageous. Perhaps we cannot solve all of our problems, but we can solve a good many of them,” Castro said in a 2008 interview.
In 2013, Castro and Obama shook hands at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg. A year later, both governments announced plans to restore diplomatic relations and reopen embassies after more than five decades of hostility.
Obama later travelled to Havana in 2016, becoming the first sitting US president to visit Cuba in 88 years.
But relations deteriorated again during Donald Trump’s first term as US president. In 2019, Washington sanctioned Castro and barred him from entering the US over Cuba’s support for Maduro’s government in Venezuela and alleged human rights abuses.
What is Castro being indicted for?
Casto has been charged with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying an aircraft.
The communist leader was defence minister in 1996 when the Cuban government shot down two planes belonging to a Miami-based Cuban exile volunteer organisation, Brothers to the Rescue.
Four people were killed: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr, Mario de la Pena and Pablo Morales.
Brothers to the Rescue said it often searched the Florida Straits for Cuban migrants attempting to flee the island and frequently flew close to Cuban territory.
Cuba argued the attack on the planes was a legitimate response to repeated violations of its airspace. Fidel Castro said the military acted under “standing orders” to shoot down aircraft entering Cuban territory, while insisting Raul Castro did not personally order the strike.
Washington condemned the attack and imposed sanctions, but it stopped short of filing criminal charges against either Castro brother. In 2003, the Justice Department charged three Cuban military officers over the incident, though none was extradited.
The International Civil Aviation Organization later concluded the planes were shot down over international waters.
Critics, including Diaz-Canel, say the new indictment reflects a wider US campaign against Cuba’s leadership.
“This is a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal basis, aimed solely at padding the dossier they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba,” Diaz-Canel wrote on Wednesday.
Media reports have emerged that Trump would like to see Diaz-Canel removed from Cuba’s presidency, in favour of another leader.
While the Trump administration has not identified a preferred candidates, the reports indicate that it has been in talks with figures like Raul “Raulito” Rodriguez Castro — Raul Castro’s grandson — and his son Alejandro Castro Espin.
But the indictment may endanger any further negotiations with high-level Cuban leaders.
How significant is this move?
An indictment against Raul Castro echoes earlier US criminal cases targeting foreign leaders like Maduro.
In 2020, for instance, the Trump administration charged Maduro with narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking.
After it launched a January 3 military raid on Caracas to abduct Maduro, it updated that indictment and framed the operation as a law enforcement action necessary to bring the Venezuelan president to justice.
Maduro is currently being held in New York, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug-trafficking and weapons possession.
Trump has repeatedly accused Cuba’s government of corruption and warned Havana that “Cuba is next” after the military actions against Iran and Venezuela.
Wednesday’s indictment has therefore fuelled speculation among critics that Trump may be laying the groundwork for a similar operation to remove the Cuba’s communist government from power.
However, Javier Farje, a journalist and historian specialising in Latin American affairs, told Al Jazeera he believes Washington’s strategy is more about gradual political economic transformation.
“I doubt regime change is a priority for the US. Look at what happened in Venezuela,” Farje said, pointing to how the US removed Maduro but kept his government largely intact.
Farje added that Trump’s tough talk might be part of a negotiation strategy to extract concessions from Cuba’s government.
“I think Trump and Rubio play good cop and bad cop, with Rubio more willing to negotiate and discuss issues,” he said. “There is pressure to release prisoners and open up the economy for oil.”
Farje also noted there are political risks to engaging in a military conflict with Cuba. Already, economic pressures on the island have fuelled mass migration to the US. Fighting could exacerbate that issue, undermining Trump’s efforts to restrict immigration into the US.
“If there was an attack on Cuba, that would create a flood of refugees to America, and that is not something Trump wants,” Farje said.
While the Trump administration wants to weaken Cuba’s government, it is also seeking to bolster the country’s private sector.
Farje explained that is also a key consideration for the Trump administration as it plans its next move.
Already, US policies allow diesel exports to Cuba’s small private sector while maintaining restrictions on state-run entities.
“I have the feeling that Rubio’s idea is to try to create change within Cuba through the economy and strengthen the private sector in Cuba, which is still small but is becoming influential,” Farje said.
