U.S. Justice Department indicts former Cuban leader Raul Castro over 1996 aircraft downing

The United States announced on Wednesday criminal charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro, 94, over his alleged role in the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, an incident that killed four people.

The indictment, unsealed by Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche in Miami, includes charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of an aircraft and four individual counts of murder against Castro and five other co-defendants. The maximum penalty for at least one of the charges is life imprisonment.

It marks the first time the U.S. government has sought criminal charges against either of the Castro brothers, whose 1959 revolution transformed Cuba into a communist state aligned against Washington for decades.

Background on the charges Speaking from Miami’s Freedom Tower – where more than 400,000 Cubans fleeing the island after the revolution were processed – Blanche said: “For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans waited for justice. ” Blanche said the indictment was intended to lead to Castro’s eventual arrest and prosecution in the United States.

“This isn’t a show indictment,” Blanche told reporters.