Former Cuban president Raul Castro and five others were indicted for the murder of four US nationals who assisted Cuban refugees in the 1990s, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Wednesday.
Blanche told a news conference in Miami that a federal grand jury handed up the charges against Castro, 94, on April 23 for directing the 1996 shootdown by Cuba’s air force of two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an exile-run humanitarian group.
The regime’s fighter jets fired air-to-air missiles at two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft carrying Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales, killing all four, who were US nationals. Three were American citizens.
Brothers to the Rescue was founded in 1991 to help Cuban migrants “stranded or lost at sea” while attempting to flee the island’s Communist regime, according to the 19-page unsealed indictment.
Castro and his co-defendants have been charged with conspiring to kill US nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder in the Feb. 24, 1996, incident.
“For nearly 30 years — 30 years — the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Blanche said. “They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits.”
“For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country … for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens,” he added. “Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability.”
Months after ordering the Soviet-made MiG fighter jets to strike the humanitarian planes, Castro confessed to telling the pilots “to knock them down,” according to an 11-minute audiotape later obtained by US intelligence, Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) told USA Today.
The indictment makes no mention of the recording.
Castro, Lorenzo Alberto Perez‑Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez‑Pardo Rodriguez all face up to life in prison or the death penalty upon conviction.
The Justice Department had previously charged three Cuban military officials for the murders in 2003, but none were extradited.
“This isn’t a show indictment,” Blanche declared Wednesday, referring to Castro. “There was a warrant issued for his arrest. So we expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way.”
Rodriguez, 65, is already in US custody ahead of a sentencing hearing scheduled for later this month related to making false statements on an immigration document, per the DOJ.
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Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), who escaped Cuba to the US with his family as a young boy following Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, suggested before the press conference that Raul Castro would face a similar fate as Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro or Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega.
“Don’t ever make the mistake that somehow Raul Castro is far removed from the politics,” Gimenez also said in the interview on Fox News’ “America Reports” ahead of the announcement.
The congressman noted that the former Cuban president founded and still leads GAESA, a military-run enterprise that controls at least 40% of the island’s economy, which has helped the Castro family maintain control over the populace.
“You cannot deal with this regime,” Gimenez continued. “There needs to be political change.”
South Florida US Attorney Jason Quiñones noted at the press conference that May 20 “carries deep meaning for the Cuban people. It is their Fourth of July.”
“It marks Cuban independence from colonial Spain [in 1902]. It reminds us that the pursuit of freedom, dignity and accountability spans generations and still lives alive and well in the heart of the Cuban community,” he said.
“Today’s indictment is one part of that long effort. When I came into office in August of last year, I made reviving this case a priority, and I want to thank the team that made it happen.”
