The lawyer Nick Gutiérrez presented a theory this Friday that shook the audience of CiberCuba. In an interview with Tania Costa, he suggested that there is a possibility that the Trump Administration might act to arrest Raúl Castro precisely today, after the stock market closes, in order to avoid causing volatility on Wall Street.
Gutiérrez's statements come less than 48 hours after the U.S. Department of Justice formally filed criminal charges against Raúl Castro, including an arrest warrant, for the shooting down of the Hermanos al Rescate planes on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans.
"There are those who say, and I might be wrong, that after the market closes on Friday, the Americans could act to arrest Raúl. They don’t want to affect the stock market. So I would wait until Friday afternoon. It’s a theory. I don’t know if it will be true or not, but I hope it is," Gutiérrez stated.
The lawyer was emphatic in clarifying that this is a personal speculation, not confirmed information, but he supported it with concrete precedents.
"It would be to execute the arrest warrant (against Raúl Castro) even though the fugitives are outside American jurisdiction. It was done in '89 against Manuel Noriega in Panama. It was done on January 3 of this year against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela," he explained.
Gutiérrez recalled that the day before the capture of Nicolás Maduro, there was also widespread skepticism about whether the U.S. would take action, and the events proved otherwise.
The lawyer emphasized that, regardless of whether the action takes place or not, the regime is already under unprecedented psychological pressure.
"And even if it is not true, Raúl Castro does not know whether it is true or not, and that regime is going to be quite nervous until this issue is resolved," he noted.
Gutiérrez also emphasized the historical significance of the formal indictment, something no previous administration had achieved. "There is a legal proceeding that is written, signed, and official. That is a significant step that neither the Clinton administration, nor the Bush administration, nor the Obama administration accomplished. And until now, it had not been done. That is enormous in itself."
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already described Raúl Castro as a "fugitive from U.S. justice" following the formal accusation, a characterization that lawyer Willie Allen had also publicly supported.
Gutiérrez framed all of this within a broader pattern of action by the Trump administration, also citing the implementation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act and the pressures on the Iranian regime.
“This administration has acted in a much braver way than previous administrations,” he stated, quoting Congressman Carlos Jiménez, who summarized the moment with a straightforward phrase: “There’s a new police chief in town.”
The Cuban regime, for its part, threatened a "fierce resistance" to any action against individuals on the island, while state television described the accusation as a "scoundrel accusation" and "political provocation."
"No one knows how Trump works or what he will say. No one knows that less than he does, because it has taken us 30 years to get here," Gutiérrez concluded, leaving the question open about what could happen before this Friday ends.
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