Former Cuba president Raul Castro charged with murder in the US

Raul Castro, Cuba's former president, has been charged with murder in the US in connection with a military airstrike against two civilian planes, which killed four people.

The aircraft, operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue, were shot down by Cuban jets in 1996.

Castro, now aged 94, is charged with one count of ‌conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft, according to US court records, unsealed on Wednesday.

Five other people are also named as defendants in the case.

Acting US attorney general Todd Blanche told reporters in Florida on Wednesday that he expected Raul Castro ​to ‌appear in the ​country "by his own will or ​by ⁠another way".

But he did not elaborate on whether the US would pursue a similar military operation that led to the capture of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro.

The Cuban government has argued the fatal military strike in 1996 was a legitimate response to the planes intruding on Cuban airspace, and Raul Castro - then defence minister - did not give a specific order to shoot the planes.

In response to the charges, Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel said the US "lies and distorts the events surrounding the downing of the planes" and described the charges as a "political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation".

In a statement on X, he defended the Cuban military's actions in 1996, saying they "acted in legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters, following repeated and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists".

Earlier on Wednesday, Donald Trump, who has been pushing for regime change, called Cuba a "rogue state harboring hostile foreign military" at an event in Connecticut.

"From the shores of Havana to the banks of the Panama Canal, we will drive out the forces of lawlessness and crime and foreign encroachment," Mr Trump said at a Coast Guard Academy event in New ​London, Connecticut.

What is Brothers to the Rescue?

Brothers to the Rescue began operating in 1991, and in subsequent years, thousands of Cubans emigrated to the US by boat. The group aimed to help Cuban refugees in the Florida straits by dropping supplies from small planes and alerting the US Coast Guard.

The crisis intensified in 1994 during instability in the country, which prompted Cuba's President Fidel Castro to allow anyone to leave the country.

Thousands did so but, to discourage dangerous crossings, US President Bill Clinton's administration changed immigration rules to discourage Cubans from heading north on rickety, makeshift boats.

Meanwhile, Brothers to the Rescue, which is also known by its Spanish name Hermanos al Rescate, continued flying toward Cuban airspace and provoking Havana.

On 24 February 1996, three planes carrying members of Brothers to the Rescue entered a zone close to the 24th parallel, a short distance north of Havana and some of Cuba's highest-value targets.

Cuban fighter planes shot down two of the unarmed civilian Cessnas, killing all four men aboard. A third plane, carrying the organisation's leader, narrowly escaped.

What was the response?

Fidel Castro, Cuba's then-president, said after the incident that ‌he gave general orders to stop the flights but did not
specifically direct them to be shot down.

Castro said the military acted on "standing orders" and that his brother Raul, who at the time oversaw the nation's security services as defense minister, also did not ⁠give a specific order to shoot the planes.

When the two aircraft were shot down, the US condemned the attack and imposed sanctions, including the suspension of charter flights.

But the then-US President Bill Clinton did not pursue criminal charges against either Castro brother.

The Justice Department instead charged three ⁠Cuban military officers in 2003, but they were never extradited.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation later concluded the attack happened over ​international waters.

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Who is Raul Castro?

‌Born in 1931, Castro was a key leader alongside his older brother Fidel in the ​guerrilla war that launched the country's communist revolution.

Castro served as his brother's defence minister ​for decades, and began a political ascent when Fidel fell ill in 2006, serving as acting president and then formally becoming president ‌in 2008.

Following Fidel's death in 2016, Castro remained the country's dominant political figure until 2018. After stepping down, ⁠he retained the honorific title of "army general" and continued ​to wield significant influence within Cuba.

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