• Charges tied to 1996 downing of exile planes; former president unlikely to face extradition
• Trump says Washington won’t tolerate a ‘rogue state’

MIAMI: Former Cuban Presi­dent Raul Castro was indicted in the United States on murder charges, court records showed on Wednesday, a dramatic escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign that comes amid fears of a potential US military intervention against the island’s communist government.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Miami, charges Castro, 94, with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft.

The charges stem from a 1996 incident in which Cuban MiG fighters shot down two civilian planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, killing four people.

The legal action follows increasingly aggressive rhetoric from the White House.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would “not tolerate a rogue state harbouring hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just ninety miles from the American homeland”.

The move has drawn parallels to the US drug-trafficking indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which the Trump administration cited as a justification for a military raid in Caracas that led to his capture.

Trump threatened in March that Cuba “is next”, prompting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to warn that any United States military action against the island would lead to a “bloodbath”.

Castro was Cuba’s defence minister on Feb 24, 1996, when Cuban jets downed two Cessnas belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian group that searched for Cuban rafters and dropped anti-government leaflets.

The group’s four members, including three American citizens, were killed.

While Cuba argued the planes intruded on its airspace, the International Civil Aviation Organisation later concluded the shootdown occurred over international waters.

In Miami, members of the large Cuban American community gathered to commemorate the victims on Wednesday.

“We all hoped for a long time, for many years that this would happen,” said Bobby Ramirez, 62, a musician who left Cuba in 1971.

The indictment was unveiled as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a video message to the Cuban people, offered $100 million in aid and blamed the island’s leaders for shortages of food and fuel.

In response, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called Rubio “the mouthpiece of corrupt and vengeful interests”.

“He keeps talking about an aid package of 100 million dollars that Cuba has not rejected, but whose cynicism is evident to anyone in light of the devastating effect of the economic blockade and the energy stranglehold,” Rodriguez wrote in a post on X.

Cuba’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the indictment. There is no evidence Castro has left the island or that the government would permit his extradition.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026