The Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned this Thursday that he will not disclose how the U.S. government plans to bring Raúl Castro to justice in that country, but he made it clear that the Trump administration is committed to doing so.
"Raúl Castro openly admits and boasts about having given orders to shoot down civilian planes. I'm not going to discuss how we will bring him here. Why would I tell the media about it? If there is an announcement, we will inform you after, not before," Rubio commented.
The statements come one day after the Department of Justice declassified the formal charges against Raúl Castro for the downing of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue in 1996. In that tragic incident, four Cuban-Americans lost their lives, and their bodies were never recovered.
The Secretary of State described Raúl Castro as a "fugitive from American justice" and emphasized that the evidence against him is compelling.
A grand jury in the Southern District of Florida approved the indictment on April 23, 2026. It was declassified on Wednesday, Cuba's Independence Day, by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at the Freedom Tower in Miami.
The charges include conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, destruction of aircraft, and four individual murder charges. If convicted, Castro could face life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Rubio expanded on the Trump administration's stance on Cuba, describing the island as a "failed state" just 90 miles from U.S. shores.
"If there is a systemic collapse in that country, which is where it is heading, we will be affected by the migratory crisis, by any violence and instability that occurs there," Rubio stated. "That directly implicates the national interest of the United States."
The Secretary of State also pointed directly at GAESA, the regime's military company: "It has 18 billion dollars in assets and not a cent of that is transferred to the state budget, not a cent goes to help the people of Cuba."
Rubio stated that the Cuban economic system "does not work" and that the regime does not understand how to reform it, while neighboring countries like Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic provide their citizens with basic freedoms that are prohibited in Cuba.
Regarding the possibility of a negotiated agreement, the Secretary of State was straightforward: although that remains President Trump’s preference, he acknowledged that the likelihood is "not high" given the current Cuban leadership.
"They won't be able to wait for us or buy time. We are very serious and very focused," he warned.
Díaz-Canel described the accusation against Raúl Castro as "a political action with no legal basis whatsoever." The Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez labeled it a "farce" and referred to Rubio as "a spokesperson for corrupt and revengeful interests."
The Cuban authorities also called for a march in front of the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in support of Castro.
One of the five co-defendants, Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, identified as one of the pilots involved in the downing, is already in U.S. custody after being arrested in November 2025, having entered the country on humanitarian parole in 2024 and lying about his military past.
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