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The United States Department of Justice declassified on Wednesday an expanded formal indictment against Raúl Castro Ruz, aged 94, and five former Cuban military personnel for their alleged role in the downing of two civilian aircraft from Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, over international waters of the Florida Strait.
The charges include conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals, two counts of aircraft destruction, and four individual counts of murder for the deaths of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales, three of whom are U.S. citizens and one a legal resident.
The acting attorney general Todd Blanche made the announcement at the Freedom Tower in Miami and was direct in his message.
"For the first time in nearly 70 years, high-ranking officials of the Cuban regime have been accused in the United States of alleged acts of violence that resulted in the deaths of American citizens. If you kill Americans, we will pursue you. No matter who you are. No matter what title you hold."
According to the accusation, the grand jury was convened in Miami on April 23, 2026, and the case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
The centerpiece of the evidence is a June 1996 audio recording, lasting 11 minutes and 32 seconds, in which Castro —then Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces— outlines the order he issued.
"Throw them into the sea when they appear; and don't consult those who have the powers," Castro is heard saying in the recording.
The authenticity of the audio was verified by specialists and by Alcibíades Hidalgo, former personal secretary to Castro. Additionally, over 10,000 pages of declassified FBI documents reveal the existence of an "Operation Venice," allegedly planned since February 13, 1996, indicating premeditation.
According to the indictment, from the early 1990s, Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated the organization and transmitted detailed information about its flight operations to the Cuban government, data that the military command used to plan the attack. Weeks before the shootdown, Cuban military pilots conducted training exercises to locate and intercept slow-moving civilian aircraft.
On the day of the attack, three Cessna aircraft took off from Opa-locka Airport; two—registered N2456S and N5485S—were destroyed by air-to-air missiles fired by MiG fighters in international waters. A third, piloted by José Basulto, managed to escape.
Among the five co-defendants alongside Castro is Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, identified as the pilot who fired the missiles, with over 1,000 flight hours. The only one already in U.S. custody is Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, 65 years old, who entered the country with humanitarian parole in April 2024 and was arrested in November 2025 for immigration fraud after concealing his military past.
If found guilty, Raúl Castro could face the death penalty or life imprisonment on charges of murder and conspiracy.
The accusation has primarily symbolic significance: Castro, who will turn 95 years old on June 3, 2026, has never set foot on U.S. soil and there is no extradition treaty between Cuba and the U.S. The regime immediately dismissed the charges: Miguel Díaz-Canel described them as a "political action, without any legal basis," claiming that Cuba acted in "legitimate defense."
The head of the FBI, Kash Patel, summarized the significance of the moment: "For 30 years, these families have waited for answers, and the FBI has never forgotten. We will continue working with the Department of Justice to bring to justice those who attacked our civilians."
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