Related videos:
The federal senator Ashley Moody stated that the criminal prosecution against Raúl Castro for the downing of the planes from Brothers to the Rescue has been viable for years, and that the only obstacle was the lack of political will from previous administrations to take action.
In an interview with Radio Martí, Moody was straightforward: "I absolutely knew it could be done if we had an administration brave enough to ask for it. And as you can see, this was never a case where we didn't know who gave the order. The order to shoot down planes with Americans on board."
The senator, who served as the Attorney General of Florida from 2019 until January 2025, participated in the official ceremony on May 20 at the Freedom Tower in Miami, where she was the one who read aloud the text of the indictment to the exiled Cuban community.
"This is a criminal case for murder," Moody summarized while defining the nature of the charges.
Raúl Castro faces seven criminal charges in the Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida: one for conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, four individual counts of murder —one for each victim— and two counts of aircraft destruction. If convicted, he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The case traces its origins to February 24, 1996, when Cuban Air Force jets shot down two unarmed Cessna aircraft belonging to Hermanos al Rescate over international waters of the Florida Straits, killing four Cuban Americans: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. Their bodies were never recovered.
The accusation is based on an audio recording from June 1996 in which Castro admits to having given the order, and on more than 10,000 pages of declassified FBI documents that reveal the existence of an "Operation Venice," planned since February 13 of that year.
Regarding the next steps, Moody warned that the extradition process "will be incredibly difficult," given that most of the accused, including Castro, are located in Cuba and there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.
However, he emphasized that the prosecution itself is the essential first step: "We have only had one person who has truly been convicted for this atrocious downing," referring to the Cuban spy Gerardo Hernández, who was released in the prisoner exchange of December 2014.
Moody, appointed senator by Governor Ron DeSantis to fill the vacancy left by Marco Rubio upon becoming Secretary of State, concluded the interview with a direct message from the Trump administration: "If you go after an American citizen, if you harm an American citizen, we will come for you wherever you are."
The Cuban regime immediately rejected the charges: Miguel Díaz-Canel described them as a "political action, without any legal basis" and claimed legitimate defense, while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez referred to Rubio as a "spokesperson for corrupt and vendetta-driven interests."
Castro, at 94 years, has not held formal positions since 2021 and will turn 95 on June 3rd.
Filed under: