MIAMI — The U.S. Department of Justice announced the filing of an expanded federal indictment against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and five other former regime officials for their alleged involvement in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Brothers to the Rescue organization, an attack that left four people dead.
The indictment, revealed this week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, attributes responsibility to Castro within the chain of command that, according to U.S. authorities, ordered or allowed the attack against two unarmed Cessna aircraft flying over international waters on February 24, 1996.
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The charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, destruction of civilian aircraft, and four counts of murder.
U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones described the decision as a step toward accountability after three decades of waiting for the victims’ families.
The Department of Justice said Cuban intelligence agents had previously infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, the Miami-based organization, and transmitted operational information to the Cuban government that was allegedly used to plan the attack.
According to the indictment, Cuban military aircraft fired air-to-air missiles at the two civilian planes without prior warning.
The victims were identified as Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
The case marks the first time in decades that a former leader of such high rank in the Cuban government has faced federal criminal charges in the United States directly tied to the deaths of American citizens.
Although the federal indictment implies a judicial warrant derived from the criminal proceeding, experts agree that any actual arrest would depend on diplomatic factors and the possibility of Castro leaving Cuban territory.
Raúl Castro, 94, remains in Cuba, where he continues to be a symbolic figure of the political power that emerged after the revolution led alongside his brother Fidel Castro.
The renewed legal case revives one of the most sensitive episodes in the modern history of tensions between Washington and Havana.
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