Ex-Cuban head indicted as tensions ramp up
By: Aysga Bagchi
and Francesca Chambers
USA Today
W ASHINGTON - The United States has a sealed indictment for Raul Castro, a source familiar told USA today. The former Cuban president was expected to be indicted for allegedly ordering an illegal attack that killed American civilian pilots who were trying to rescue people fleeing Cuba on rafts.
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The charges date back to a 1996 incident, in which Castro is accused of ordering Cuban fighter jet pilots to shoot down two civilian planes that were working under humanitarian aid group Brothers to the Rescue. four members of Brothers to the Rescue were killed, including three men who were U.S. citizens and one man who was a U.S. resident from Cuba.
..... "This was premeditated murder," Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, said at a morning news conference May 20 [2026] on Capitol Hill. "Premeditated murder, ordered, as was known then, as is known today, by Raul Castro himself."
..... The move comes amid increased apprehension about potential U.S. military action in Cuba, following President Donald Trump's repeated threats against the island. USA today exclusively reported in April [2026] that the Pentagon had ramped up its planning for a possible military operation.
..... In January, [2026] the Trump administration sent troops into Venezuela to capture its president, Noclolas Maduro, after it secretly indicted the Latin American leader. Trump has since turned to Cuba, executing a months-long pressure campaign on its government and the inland's elites through an oil blockage and targeted sanctions, in order to force a deal that could see economic conditions improve inside the country and political prisoners released.
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Raul Castro is the brother of the late Fedel Castro, who ran Cuba as a one-party Communist sate for decades. Raul succeeded Fidel as Cuba's president in 2008, and as the leader of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2011. the 94-year-old steeped down form each of those rose years ago, but continues to serve in Cuba's national assembly.
..... At the time of the 1996 incident, Raul Castro was serving as head of Cuba's armed forces. Ten years later, El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language newspaper in Florida, obtained audio that purported to show Castro describing to Cuban officers to shoot down the planes, according to the Miami Herald, which is owned by El Nuevo Herald's publishers.
..... Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in 1996 that the two planes, which took off form Florida, violated airspace over Cuban territorial waters. But the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization determined the planes were in international airspace and the attack was illegal.
..... Asked for comment on the alleged role of the Cuban government, and Castro specifically, in downing the planes, Cuba's embassy in Washington, DC, sent USA Today a social media post from Cuba's top diplomat in the United States, Lianys Torres Rivera.
..... Torres Rivera said there are documented communications showing high-level officials in President Bill Clinton's administration, which was in office in 1996, were concerned repeated penetration of Cuba's airspace "would eventually lead to a crisis" if Cuba acted to protect its territorial integrity.