In a dramatic escalation of pressure on Havana, the United States unsealed an indictment against 94-year-old Raúl Castro, the former president of Cuba, charging him with murder, conspiracy to kill American citizens, and the destruction of aircraft in connection with the 1996 downing of two planes belonging to the exile organization Brothers to the Rescue.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment at a press conference, in what multiple outlets characterized as a major intensification of the Trump administration’s campaign against Cuba’s government. The White House accompanied the legal action with explicit references to possible military intervention of the “Venezuela type,” sending an unmistakable signal to Havana.
The move fits a broader pattern of confrontational US policy in the Western Hemisphere. As El País and Carta Capital both noted, the indictment comes on the heels of the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and represents a willingness by Washington to reach back decades to prosecute foreign leaders. Whether the charges will lead to any practical consequences for the nonagenarian Castro remains to be seen, but the political message is loud and clear.
