Florida federal prosecutors formally charged former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, along with five others, in connection with the downing of two U.S. planes that killed three United States citizens three decades ago.
Raúl Castro Indicted on Criminal Charges
Officials were granted permission to unseal the 20-page indictment and unveiled the charges on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, at a press conference in Miami. The charges against the 94-year-old brother of the late Fidel Castro have intensified the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure the Cuban government.
Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018, was the top official of the country’s Communist Party from 2011 to 2021, and remains one of Cuba’s most powerful figures.
CBS News first reported the U.S.’s intentions to indict Castro last month, before he was indicted in Miami on April 23, 2026. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to kill a U.S. national, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft.
Attorney General Holds News Conference
The indictment focuses on the Cuban air force’s decision to shoot down two civilian planes that a Florida-based exile group, Brothers to the Rescue, was flying in February 1996. Four people died as a result, and the indictment notes the planes were not in Cuban airspace when they were shot down.
The other five named defendants in the indictment are Cuban fighter pilots, including one who was initially charged with the incident over 20 years ago. “For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at Wednesday’s news conference.
“My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.”
It is unclear if Castro will ever face the charges and stand trial because Cuba does not extradite people to the United States. Earlier this year, former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was captured by U.S. forces and flown to New York to face drug charges from a 2020 indictment.
However, Blanche did not offer details on how the U.S. might handle Castro or whether it would carry out the same daring operation. “This isn’t a show indictment,” he said. “There’s all kinds of different ways” to bring defendants from other countries to face the charges, and they intend to try the case.
The Indictment
Castro was leading Cuba’s armed forces at the time of the deadly incident, and the indictment alleges that he “met with military leaders and authorized them to use decisive and deadly action” against the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996.
“All orders to kill by the Cuban military traveled through [the armed forces’] chain of command with [Raúl Castro] and Fidel Castro as the final decision makers,” prosecutors said.
The indictment also alleges that Cuba’s intelligence agency created a network of spies in Florida, tasking them to be informants on Brothers to the Rescue. One of those spies was convicted of murder conspiracy over 20 years ago, and several other members were also charged.
Criticising The Castro Regime
“The Castro Regime established and maintained control over Cuba and her people through a reign that eliminated dissent, preserved their power, territory, and reputations, and, through expropriation and nationalization of private business, funded those objectives,” the indictment reads.
Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said the allegations against Castro are “illegitimate and illegal.” He condemned the indictment and maintained the original story that the planes were shot down in self-defense, calling the Brothers to the Rescue a “terrorist” group.
Brothers to the Rescue
On February 24, 1996, a Cuban Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29UB shot down two unarmed aircraft that Brothers to the Rescue were operating. The Organisation of American States (OAS) said there was no warning of the strike, but the Cuban government said, “These people knew what they were doing. They were warned.”
The Cuban government alleges the aircraft entered Cuban airspace when they were shot down, and those killed in the incident were four U.S. Citizens: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
