U.S. Charges Former Cuban President Raúl Castro in 1996 Plane Shootdown

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of two civilian planes operated by a Miami-based exile group. The indictment, unsealed in Federal District Court in Miami, accuses the 94-year-old Castro and five others of murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens.

Four people died when Cuban military jets shot down the planes flown by Brothers to the Rescue.

Background of the 1996 Incident The planes were conducting search-and-rescue missions for Cubans fleeing the island by sea. Fidel Castro took responsibility for the downing shortly after it occurred, stating that the group had dropped anti-regime leaflets over Havana in earlier flights. The charges build on an earlier case first filed in 2003 and were secretly returned last month.

General Todd Blanche and Jason A.

Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced the indictment at a news conference in Miami. The maximum penalty for the charges is life in prison. Prosecutors said the indictment escalates pressure on Cuba's government.

“The indictment was an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration’s multifaceted pressure campaign against Cuba’s Communist government." — The New York Times, May 20, 2026 The Justice Department said the action also lays groundwork for potential military removal of Castro similar to the January operation that captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.”