U.S. levels criminal charges against ex-Cuban President Raúl Castro
by Macarena Hermosilla & Mar Puig · UPIMay 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday formally charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro, 94, accusing him of authorizing the 1996 shootdown of aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban American exile organization.
During a ceremony at the Freedom Tower in Miami, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the charges include conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, destruction of aircraft and four individual homicide counts. The event coincided with Cuban Independence Day.
The indictment includes other Cuban military officials allegedly involved in the incident that occurred 30 years ago over international waters: Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez and Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez.
"For the first time in nearly 70 years, leaders of the Cuban regime are being prosecuted in the United States for the deaths of American citizens," Blanche said. He would not say whether Castro would come to Miami voluntarily or the United States would attempt to capture him.
"It does not matter whether five months, five years or five decades pass. We will pursue you and anyone who seeks to harm our citizens, and they will face American justice," FBI Deputy Director Chris Raia said during the annoucement.
After the charges -- handed down by a grand jury and sealed weeks ago -- were announced, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the case against Castro "only demonstrates the arrogance and frustration caused to representatives of the empire by the unbreakable resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership."
"This is a political action with no legal basis whatsoever, aimed solely at expanding the case they are building to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba," Díaz-Canel added.
Díaz-Canel said the United States was lying and manipulating events surrounding the 1996 shootdown of aircraft operated by the "narco-terrorist organization" Brothers to the Rescue.
"He knows well, because there is overwhelming documentary evidence, that there was no reckless action and no violation of international law, unlike what U.S. military forces have been doing with their coldly calculated and openly publicized extrajudicial executions against civilian vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific," Díaz-Canel said referring to Blanche.
U.S. authorities charged Castro, a former military leader of the Cuban Revolution, over allegations tied to events that took place 30 years ago.
The case dates to Feb. 24, 1996, when Cuban MiG fighter jets shot down two Cessna aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, which was dedicated to locating migrants attempting to cross the Florida Straits by sea.
The attack killed Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales -- three U.S. citizens and one lawful permanent resident.
Blanche said the victims were four civilian pilots engaged in humanitarian work, stressing that they were not combatants, were unarmed and posed no threat.
"Raúl Castro and the other five defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans. Those are the allegations accepted by a federal grand jury," Blanche added. "My message is clear: The United States and President Trump do not forget, and will not forget, their citizens."
With this move, U.S. prosecutors are following the same path taken against Nicolás Maduro in March 2020, when the United States charged him with narcotics trafficking offenses.
Those charges later enabled the Trump administration to carry out a Jan. 3 military operation in Venezuela and transfer the Venezuelan leader to a prison in New York.
The reported Justice Department action coincided with May 20 commemorations by Cuban exile groups marking the formal founding of the Republic of Cuba in 1902. The date was removed from Cuba's official calendar after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States would not rest "until the people of Cuba once again have the freedom their ancestors bravely fought to establish more than 100 years ago."
In a message marking Cuban Independence Day, Trump described the government in Havana as "a betrayal" of the republic's founding ideals and intensified his criticism of Cuba's communist leadership.
Hours before the Justice Department announcement, the Cuban Embassy in Washington posted a message titled "MythBreakers: Exposing the Brothers to the Rescue hoax."
In the statement, the embassy said that "rigorously and repeatedly," each of the more than 25 territorial violations between 1994 and 1996 had been formally denounced in writing.
The embassy added that Cuba officially notified U.S. authorities with the authority and legal obligation to stop the flights, including the State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
"No one can claim ignorance," the statement said.
Republican Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart, María Elvira Salazar and Carlos A. Giménez held a press conference in Washington on Wednesday to publicly support the federal prosecution.
"Raúl Castro was the one who gave the order to murder these four individuals in a premeditated and cold-blooded manner," Díaz-Balart saidt.
The congressman said recordings and public statements by Cuban officials prove the direct responsibility of the former armed forces minister.
"After 67 years, this administration has done the right thing, not only by bringing justice for Mario, Pablo, Carlos Costa and Armando Alejandre, but by bringing justice to the Cuban people," Salazar said.
"A prosperous Cuba, where we can help economically, politically and on immigration matters, having such a close neighbor that is good for the United States, is part of the America First agenda," she added.
During the press conference, the lawmakers linked a possible prosecution to a broader national security strategy toward Cuba.
Giménez described the Cuban government as "the cancer of our hemisphere" and said the Trump administration "will not tolerate threats" from the island, referring to recent reports about Cuba's alleged acquisition of military drones.
"Raúl Castro, your days are numbered," Giménez said.
The possible indictment revives one of the most sensitive episodes in U.S.-Cuba relations.
The International Civil Aviation Organization concluded that the aircraft were shot down outside Cuban airspace, contradicting Havana's longstanding claim that the planes had violated Cuban sovereignty.
Díaz-Balart said federal prosecutors in South Florida had already begun preparing charges during former President Bill Clinton's administration, but alleged the process was shelved for political reasons.
"For decades, justice was demanded and different administrations looked the other way," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a message Wednesday in Spanish to the Cuban people in which he rejected claims that the island's energy and food crisis is caused by the U.S. embargo, instead blaming the military-run conglomerate, GAESA.
Rubio said the corporation controls assets worth $18 billion and manages 70% of Cuba's economy, prioritizing the enrichment of government elites over investment in the country's deteriorating electrical grid and public services.
Rubio said the White House seeks to build a "New Cuba" based on direct relations with citizens and private entrepreneurs, while conditioning the lifting of restrictions on the creation of a free market, freedom of expression and democratic elections.
The secretary of state also reiterated the administration's willingness to provide $100 million in humanitarian aid, including food and medicine.