Former Cuban President Raul Castro was indicted in the United States on Wednesday in a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Cuba’s communist government.Prior to the indictment’s formal unsealing, a request by the Justice Department emerged on the federal court docket asking for an indictment against Castro and five others to be unsealed. The docket did not include descriptions of the charges.The indictment, which was set to be formally addressed at a DOJ event in Miami honoring victims of the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown on Wednesday, marks one of the rare instances in modern U.S. history in which a former foreign head of state has faced criminal prosecution in a United States court.
FILE – Cuba’s President Raul Castro listens to the Cuban and Venezuelan national anthems during his welcome ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace, March 17, 2015, in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)
Federal prosecutors are expected to accuse Castro, 94, of playing a role in the Feb. 24, 1996, downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Cuban MiG fighter jets fired missiles at the planes, killing all four men aboard, including three U.S. citizens.
