The Justice Department’s anticipated criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro is a prosecution more than 30 years in the works, with federal prosecutors in Miami first drafting an indictment against him in the 1990s.
After three decades, criminal charges expected to be announced Wednesday at an event in Miami focus on the 94-year-old Castro’s role — years before his presidency — as defense minister and alleged role in ordering the 1996 shoot down of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Cuban-American group Brothers to the Rescue, according to people briefed on the matter.
Four people, three of them Americans, were killed in the attack by two Cuban MiG fighters in international airspace. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to attend a ceremony honoring the victims of the shoot-down on a day that Cuban exiles celebrate as Cuba’s independence day, according to people familiar with the plans.
The original draft indictment, however, was built on the momentum of the successful prosecution of Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian leader convicted in 1992 of racketeering and drug trafficking.
“On the heels of the Noriega case, we frankly redoubled the efforts to move this case forward,” Guy Lewis, a former US Attorney in Miami, said of the early efforts in a telephone interview.
