The Justice Department of the government of Donald Trumpformally charged former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro this Wednesday, accusing him of the murder of four Cuban-Americans following the downing of two civilian planes in 1996.
Castro faces charges of conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, homicide, and destruction of aircraft, according to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. The judicial measure also extends to five other men, identified as the fighter pilots who shot down the civilian aircraft.
The charges were announced during a press conference in front of the Freedom Tower in Miami, an emblematic place for exiles who left the island after the arrival of communism led by dictator Fidel Castro. The date chosen to formalize the charges, May 20, also has a strong symbolic component for the Cuban diaspora, as it coincides with the commemoration of Cuba's Independence Day.
"Raúl Castro and five co-defendants participated in a conspiracy that ended with Cuban military planes firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing four Americans. Those are the charges presented by a federal grand jury," Blanche stated.
The Trump Department of Justice formally charged Raúl Castro and will seek the death penalty for the former dictator.
The government will seek the death penalty for Raúl Castro
Because the Castro brothers were identified as responsible for issuing the execution orders to their armed forces, Raúl Castro -who was serving as Minister of Defense at the time- could face the death penalty if captured and tried in the United States.
The downed civilian aircraft belonged to Hermanos al Rescate, an organization founded in 1991 by Cuban exiles that conducted humanitarian missions over the waters between Cuba and Florida to rescue rafters fleeing the island.
During one of those missions, two of their planes were hit by missiles from a Cuban MiG-29 fighter in international airspace, resulting in the deaths of three U.S. citizens and one legal resident. While the Bill Clinton administration strongly condemned the attack at the time, its response was limited to the imposition of economic sanctions. Two decades later, former Democratic President Barack Obama implemented a policy of thawing and diplomatic rapprochement with the Castro regime.
Blanche hinted at the possibility of future U.S. action on the island by confirming that there is already an international arrest warrant against the former dictator: "We hope he presents himself here voluntarily or by other means," the official concluded.
