The United States has announced murder charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, Reuters reported.
The indictment marks a new low in relations between the longtime Cold War rivals and comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for regime change in Cuba, where Castro’s communists have been in charge since his late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
The charges against Castro and five fighter pilots in the Cuban military stem from a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, according to Reuters.
Raúl Castro, 94, was charged with one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft.
He appeared in public in Cuba earlier this month and there is no evidence he has left the island or that he will be extradited, according to Reuters.
“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,” Trump said at a Coast Guard Academy event in New London, Connecticut, earlier on Wednesday.
Speaking at a ceremony in Miami to honor the victims of the 1996 incident, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche did not directly answer questions about whether the U.S. military would arrest Castro.
Blanche said he expected Castro to one day face the charges.
“There was a warrant issued for his arrest, so we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way,” Blanche said to applause in a packed auditorium of government officials and Cuban Americans.
In a post on X, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Cuba had acted legitimately to defend its territory in shooting down the planes. He said the indictment appeared to be intended to justify military action against Cuba, which he said would be a mistake.
“It is a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation,” Diaz-Canel said.
Diaz-Canel said earlier this week that the island does not represent a threat.
The charges come months after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 to face drug trafficking charges in New York.
Maduro, a socialist aligned with Havana, pleaded not guilty.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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