Federal prosecutors on May 20 announced charges against 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the 1996 downing of two civilian planes operated by Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, reviving one of the most contentious episodes in the history of U.S.-Cuba relations.
An indictment unsealed in federal court in Miami accuses Castro — who was Cuba’s defense minister at the time — and several other Cuban officials of conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, destroying aircraft, and murdering the four men who were aboard the two unarmed Cessna planes flying over international waters north of Cuba on Feb. 24, 1996.
All four men aboard the planes were killed when the planes were shot down: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. The victims were volunteers conducting humanitarian missions to aid Cuban migrants attempting to flee the island.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges during a ceremony in Miami honoring the victims.
“For nearly 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.”
According to the indictment, Cuban Mikoyan and Gurevich fighter jets fired air-to-air missiles at the planes after senior Cuban officials allegedly conspired to target the aircraft. U.S. authorities said the planes were in international airspace at the time. Cuba has long maintained the aircraft violated Cuban territory and posed a threat to national security.
Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro. The indicted former president is not in U.S. custody, and there was no indication May 20 that Cuba would extradite him.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment, calling it a politically motivated action intended to justify increased U.S. pressure on Cuba.
The case marks a major escalation in tensions between the Trump administration and Cuba’s communist government. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who appeared alongside Justice Department officials at the announcement, suggested further action could follow.
“There can be no future for a free Cuba so long as the Castros and their criminal gang of thugs remain in power,” Uthmeier said.
Brothers to the Rescue, founded by Cuban exiles, conducted search-and-rescue flights over the Florida Straits during the 1990s to locate Cuban migrants stranded at sea. The group also dropped anti-Castro leaflets over Havana, heightening tensions between the U.S. and Cuban governments.
Federal prosecutors pursued charges against Cuban military personnel tied to the shootdown in the years after the incident, but Castro himself has never been indicted. U.S. officials at the time cited foreign policy considerations.
If convicted on U.S. soil, Castro and his co-defendants could face life imprisonment or the death penalty.