U.S. DOJ Files Criminal Charges Against Raúl Castro

(MENAFN) Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has leveled criminal charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, nearly three decades after Cuban military jets downed two civilian aircraft and killed four volunteers.

"We are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill US nationals," Blanche declared at a ceremony held in honor of the four victims, who perished in 1996 when Cuban jets shot down planes operated by a Miami-based exile organization.

"Mr. Castro, and the others are charged with additional crimes as well, including destruction of aircraft and four individual counts of murder," he added.

Federal court records filed in Miami reveal the full scope of the charges against Castro: one count of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft. Co-defendants named in the indictment include Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas, and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez.

Blanche framed the indictment as a long-overdue reckoning. "For nearly 30 years, families of four murdered Americans waited for justice," he said. "The United States and President Trump does not, and will not, forget its citizens."

'Why Now' Questions Go Unanswered
Pressed on both the timing of the charges and the evidentiary basis linking Castro directly to the killings, Blanche offered little. "I cannot explain or justify why now, as opposed to two decades ago or 30 years ago when it happened," he acknowledged.

He confirmed that evidence was presented to a grand jury in late April but declined to go beyond what the indictment itself contains. "As far as what the evidence is, a lot of it's in the indictment, and it would not be appropriate or fair to comment outside of the indictment about the evidence," he said.

On the question of whether the defendants would ever face trial on U.S. soil, Blanche signaled confidence. "This is an indictment, because we expect that there was a warrant issued for his arrest," he said. "We expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way."

When asked whether a recent visit to Cuba by the CIA director had any bearing on the decision to unseal the indictment, Blanche shut the door on the question. "I'm not going to get into why we decided to unseal the indictment today," he said, adding dismissively: "It wasn't that long ago; It was late April, it's mid-May."

President Donald Trump praised the move, telling reporters: "We have Cuba on our mind, very important ... This is a very big moment not only Cuban Americans, but people who came from Cuba, that want to go back to Cuba, see their family in Cuba." He called it a "very big day, very important day."

Havana Fires Back: 'Despicable Accusation'
Cuba's government responded with outright defiance, issuing a statement that rejected the charges in the strongest possible terms.

"The Revolutionary Government condemns in the strongest terms the despicable accusation by the United States Department of Justice announced on May 20 and proclaimed for several weeks against Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution," Havana said.

Cuba declared that Washington holds neither "legitimacy" nor "jurisdiction" over the matter and accused it of deliberately distorting the historical record — insisting that the 1996 incident followed more than 25 documented violations of Cuban airspace between 1994 and 1996, formally reported to the U.S. State Department, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Havana maintained its longstanding position that the shootdown was "an act of legitimate self-defense" under international law, grounded in the UN Charter and the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.

The statement also leveled a sharp counter-accusation, describing U.S. military operations against vessels in international waters as "extrajudicial executions" and "murders" — characterizing the indictment as a pretext to justify "collective and ruthless punishment" of the Cuban people through sanctions and an "unjust and genocidal energy blockade."

"The Cuban people reaffirm their unwavering decision to defend the Homeland and its Socialist Revolution," Havana concluded, pledging "unrestricted and unchanging support" for Castro.

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