The criminal indictment on Wednesday of Raul Castro, Cuba's former president, springs from the downing three decades ago of two civilian U.S. planes by Cuban Air Force MiG fighters. Castro, the brother of longtime leader Fidel Castro, was defense minister when the two Cessnas belonging to a Cuban-American exile group were shot down by air-to-air missiles in international airspace.
Details of the Incident
Four members of a Miami-based anti-Castro humanitarian group known as Brothers to the Rescue were killed, including three Americans. Their bodies were never found. According to a report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the pilots of the Cessnas were not given any warning before being shot out of the sky by the air force jets.
Prior to the Feb. 24, 1996 incident, unarmed Brothers to the Rescue planes would drop anti-Castro leaflets over Havana and help the U.S. Coast Guard locate Cubans who were fleeing the island for the Florida coast aboard makeshift rafts and boats. The group was founded in 1991 by Jose Basulto, a Cuban exile, licensed pilot and veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Legal and Political Context
The 94-year-old Castro is charged in the indictment unsealed by a federal district court in Florida with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying aircraft. The charges come as U.S. President Donald Trump ramps up the pressure on Cuba's communist leadership, even saying recently that the United States would be 'taking over' the Caribbean island.
Relatives of the victims, U.S. lawmakers and members of the Cuban exile community in the United States have pushed for years for Castro to face charges. Basulto, 85, told USA Today in a recent interview that he has been haunted for years by seeing his fellow Brothers to the Rescue members shot down. 'I have navigated these years with a pain in my heart, seeing that a crime remained unpunished,' he told the newspaper.
Basulto was flying a third plane on the day of the shootdown but was not targeted. The indictment marks a significant step in the long-standing efforts to hold those responsible for the attack accountable.
