DOJ Unseals Indictment Charging Cuba’s Raúl Castro for Shooting Down U.S. Rescue Flights in 1996

AP Photo/Ismael Francisco, File

The Department of Justice unsealed a superseding indictment Wednesday charging former Cuban President Raúl Castro and five other members of the Castro regime for shooting down two unarmed U.S. rescue flights in 1996.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been escalating its rhetoric against the communist government in Cuba, including Castro, the 94-year-old brother of the late dictator Fidel Castro, current leader Miguel Díaz-Canel, and other regime leaders. Raúl Castro led Cuba after his brother became ill and then turned over the position to Díaz-Canel in 2021.

Trump has repeatedly made threats to use military action against Cuba, suggesting the U.S. would take a similar approach as when it captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in early January.

Thus far, the Cuban government remains defiant and has vowed they are ready to defend against any U.S. attacks.

Wednesday morning — on the day recognized as Cuban Independence Day, commemorating the creation of the Republic of Cuba in 1902 — Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video message, in Spanish with English subtitles, on his social media, addressing the Cuban people and criticizing the regime and specifically GAESA, the military-run conglomerate that controls much of the island nation’s infrastructure and economy.

Numerous media outlets have reported that the Trump administration intended to indict Castro, and the DOJ made the official announcement after a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at the Freedom Tower in Miami, a national historic landmark building that was used as a headquarters to process and coordinate food, medical services, and other aid for Cuban refugees in the wake of the Castros coming to power after the Cuban Revolution.

The DOJ’s press release names as defendants “Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, of Holguin, Cuba; along with Lorenzo Alberto Perez‑Perez of Las Tunas, Cuba; Emilio José Palacio Blanco; José Fidel Gual Barzaga; Raul Simanca Cardenas; and Luis Raul Gonzalez‑Pardo Rodriguez.” The six are indicted “for their alleged roles in the Feb. 24, 1996 shoot‑down of two unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR), also known as Hermanos al Rescate, over international waters.”

Four U.S. nationals, including three U.S. citizens, died after their planes were shot down: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.

The DOJ statement describes BTTR as a Miami-based organization that “conducted humanitarian flight operations across the Florida Straits to search for Cuban migrants in distress. The indictment offers further details about how this was a period in which many Cubans were fleeing to Florida, risking their lives in the dangerous waters of the Florida Straits, and BTTR “flew unarmed Cessna aircraft to rescue or guide Cuban migrants stranded or lost at sea” and “also flew to support anti-Castro, pro-democracy movements in Cuba.”

The DOJ alleges that Cuban intelligence agents had, starting in the early 1990s, “infiltrated the organization and relayed detailed information about its flight operations back to the Cuban government” that was used to plan the Feb. 24, 1996, strike.

On that day, three BTTR aircraft took flight from South Florida to Cuba, and according to the DOJ, “Cuban military fighter jets under the chain of command overseen by Raúl Castro fired air‑to‑air missiles at two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft — destroying them without warning while they were flying outside Cuban territory” and killing Costa, Alejandre, de la Peña, and Morales.

The indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

“If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment on the murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals counts,” the DOJ’s statement said, and “Castro Ruz and Perez-Perez face up to five years in prison for each of the destruction of aircraft counts.”

“Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable for the murders of four brave Americans: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens. President Trump and this Justice Department are committed to restoring a simple principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you. No matter who you are. No matter what title you hold.”

FBI Director Kash Patel called the indictment “a major step toward accountability in the 1996 murders of four Brothers to the Rescue members,” and added that “[f]or 30 years these families have waited for answers – and this FBI never forgot. We will continue working with our Justice Department partners to bring to justice those who attacked our civilians.”

Read the DOJ press release and indictment.

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