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Hundreds of people from Cienfuegos gathered this Friday at the Provincial Electric Company for a rally denouncing the criminal charges from the United States government against former president Raúl Castro, where attendees warned that "Cuba will not become another Venezuela," reported the official newspaper 5 de Septiembre.
The rally, held three blocks from the historic José Martí park, was part of a nationwide mobilization called in response to the formal charges against Castro, announced on May 20 in Miami by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The indictment, approved by a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida on April 23, charges the then Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces along with five former Cuban military members for the downing of Brothers to the Rescue aircraft on February 24, 1996, in which four Cuban-Americans died: Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales.
The charges include conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens, destruction of civilian aircraft, and four individual counts of homicide, which could result in life imprisonment or the death penalty.
The slogan chanted in Cienfuegos reflects the regime's fear that Washington will apply the same maximum pressure script against Havana that it used to force change in Venezuela, where former president Nicolás Maduro was captured in January and brought before U.S. justice, following which the supply of Venezuelan oil to Cuba was abruptly cut off.
The central event of the day took place at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune in Havana, in front of the United States Embassy. The leader Miguel Díaz-Canel appeared dressed in an olive green combat uniform, although he did not deliver a speech, breaking his usual pattern.
The only leader who spoke was Gerardo Hernández, national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, who conveyed a brief message from Castro himself, who did not attend the event organized in his name.
Mariela Castro, daughter of the Army General, publicly defended her father at the end of the event, stating that "no one is going to kidnap him", while conveying the words he supposedly said to her. "No one is taking me alive. They will catch me fighting."
The regime mobilized dozens of public transport buses to increase attendance, in stark contrast to the severe fuel crisis that is paralyzing the country, where transportation only met 42% of its planned goals.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to Raúl Castro as a "fugitive" and, when asked about a possible capture operation, replied: "I’m not going to discuss how we would bring him here," in a statement that rekindled comparisons to the Venezuelan situation.
Castro will turn 95 years old on June 3, and in April, Díaz-Canel described him as "fragile due to his advanced age."
This Friday, the leader dedicated a quote from José Martí on Facebook. "The chaotic and brutal North that despises us does not yet know us: by wanting to divide us, it has united us even more," he wrote on his X account.
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