Florida issues arrest warrant for Raúl Castro over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown
Florida's attorney general has charged Cuba's 95-year-old former president with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, with no bond, over the downing of two exile planes that killed four men. Havana calls it a political stunt, and the warrant cannot be served while Castro stays in Cuba.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Monday that state prosecutors had obtained an arrest warrant for former Cuban president Raúl Castro. It charges him with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the shooting down of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue Cessnas over international waters on 24 February 1996. The four men killed were Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr. The warrant was signed by Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan of Miami-Dade's Eleventh Judicial Circuit, and the court ordered that Castro be held without bond.
According to the state affidavit, Castro, then Cuba's defence minister, was the final decision-maker who authorised the shootdown, and Cuban intelligence agents in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties had infiltrated the exile group and passed on its flight plans. The state case is separate from a federal indictment announced in May, which charges Castro and five former military officers with seven counts, including murder.
Cuba and the United States have no extradition treaty, so the warrant cannot be enforced while Castro remains on the island. Uthmeier argued that it could still restrict his travel. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the move on X as a 'pathetic Miami circus' with an electoral backdrop.