The charges against Castro, who led Cuba's communist regime from 2008 to 2018, include conspiracy to kill US nationals and four counts of murder.
By Raymond Wolfe
Lifesite News
May 22, 2026
MIAMI - The U.S. government indicted former Cuban communist dictator Raúl Castro on Wednesday.
The charges against Castro, who led Cuba's communist regime from 2008 to 2018, include conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft.
The charges stem from a 1996 incident in which the Cuban Air Force shot down unarmed planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Florida-based nonprofit formed by Cuban-American exiles. The group would search out and assist Cuban refugees fleeing by raft.
The attack on the civilian aircraft killed four men, including three American citizens and a permanent resident.
Castro, 94, the brother of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, was the head of Cuba's military at the time and allegedly ordered the shootdown. Raúl Castro was also the top official of Cuba's Communist Party from 2011 to 2021.
Five Cuban airmen allegedly involved in the attack were also indicted on Wednesday.
"If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment on the murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals counts," the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
"Cuban military fighter jets under the chain of command overseen by Raul Castro fired air‑to‑air missiles at two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft - destroying them without warning while they were flying outside Cuban territory," the DOJ stated.
"Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable for the murders of four brave Americans: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales," Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. "For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens."
Trump admin targets Cuba's communist regime
Fidel Castro took control of the country in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution and established the island's communist dictatorship, which became notorious for its intense repression, extrajudicial killings, and persecution of the Catholic Church.
Cuban communist forces have arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of people in recent years alone and systemically starve political prisoners, who are estimated to number more than 1,200. Fidel Castro also nationalized hundreds of Catholic schools and expelled priests from the country, among other anti-Catholic abuses.
The indictment of Raúl Castro coincided with Cuba's Independence Day, May 20. President Donald Trump released a message on Wednesday marking the day, in which he denounced the Cuban government.
"The regime in Havana today is the direct betrayal of the nation their founding patriots bled and died for," he wrote. "For nearly seven decades, the island's communist government has violently dismantled political freedom, denied its people fair elections, viciously silenced dissent, and strangled the Cuban economy into a state of collapse."
The Trump administration has enforced an oil blockade on Cuba since January. Cuba's regime had relied heavily on oil from Venezuela, but exports halted after the administration captured Venezuela's leftist former dictator Nicolás Maduro on January 3. The U.S. had indicted Maduro on "narco-terrorism" and other charges in 2020 and again in January.
The State Department also imposed new sanctions on Cuban government agencies on May 18.
U.S. and Cuban officials have negotiated for months, with the Trump administration demanding fundamental changes to Cuba's communist system that its leaders have refused. The U.S. has also insisted that Cuba block Chinese and Russian intelligence activities in the country.
The administration has offered Cuba $100 million in food and medicine with the requirement that it be distributed through the Catholic Church and NGOs, not the government.
"There won't be won't be an escalation" in Cuba, Trump said on Wednesday. "I don't think there needs to be."
"Look, the place is falling apart. They've really lost control of Cuba," he continued. "It's a failing nation, you see, that is falling apart. They have no oil."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also addressed the Cuban people in a Spanish-language video on Wednesday.
"The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil blockade by the U.S.," he said.
"Cuba is controlled by GAESA," Rubio added, referring to the Cuban conglomerate owned by the country's Revolutionary Armed Forces. "While you suffer, these businessmen have $18 billion in assets and control 70 percent of Cuba's economy."
"The real reason you don't have electricity, fuel, or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people," he said.
"The only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country."
This article was originally published on Lifesite News.