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U.S. moving to indict ex-Cuban leader Raúl Castro over downing of exile group’s planes, sources say 00:57

The U.S. is taking steps to indict Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba and brother of Fidel, in connection with the downing of planes 30 years ago, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The potential indictment — which would need to be approved by a grand jury — is expected to focus on Cuba’s deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

The plan comes as the U.S. heaps pressure on the Cuban government. The Trump administration has threatened heavy tariffs on any country that exports oil to Cuba, leading to energy shortages as oil shipments are largely cut off. President Trump has pressed for major reforms in Cuba and has floated a “friendly takeover” of the country.

The pressure on Cuba began to pick up in January, after the U.S. military removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power and flew him to New York to face drug charges. Venezuela was a key partner of Cuba’s before the operation.

Raúl Castro formally stepped down as the leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021, but he is still widely seen as one of the most powerful figures in the country. His grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, known as “Raulito,” is viewed as both a representative of the 94-year-old and a key point of contact between the U.S. and Cuba.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with the younger Castro on Thursday, following an earlier U.S. visit last month. Ratcliffe personally delivered President Trump’s message that the U.S. is “prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,” a CIA official said. The official added that Cuba can “no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere.”

Miami’s top federal prosecutor several months ago spearheaded a new initiative targeting Cuban communist leaders. That initiative, which involves federal and local law enforcement and the U.S. Treasury Department, is pursuing prosecutions involving economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations, with a focus on targeting those in the Communist Party leadership, CBS News previously reported.

The incident that could ultimately lead to Castro’s indictment dates back to February 1996, when two Cessnas operated by Brothers to the Rescue — an exile group that searched for Cubans seeking to flee the island on rafts — were shot down by a Cuban MiG-29 fighter jet, killing four people.

A report by the Organization of American States found the planes were shot down outside Cuban airspace, and alleged that Cuba violated international law by shooting without warning and without evidence that it was necessary. The incident drew outrage at the time, with President Bill Cinton condemning it “in the strongest possible terms.”

Cuban officials have argued the shootdown was legitimate, claiming the group had violated Cuban airspace and sought to carry out acts of sabotage on infrastructure.

Fidel Castro told “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather the Cuban military was acting on his “general orders” to stop planes from encroaching on the country. At the time of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, Fidel — who died in 2016 — was the country’s leader, and Raúl led the armed forces.

One person, Gerardo Hernandez, was convicted in the U.S. of murder conspiracy in connection with the shootdown, after federal prosecutors alleged he was part of a spy ring that sought to pass on information about Brothers to the Rescue to the Cuban intelligence service. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was sent to Cuba in a 2014 prisoner swap.

Earlier this year, Florida’s attorney general said at a news conference in March that he was re-opening a shuttered state investigation into the same 1996 plane incident.

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott and other Florida lawmakers have also recently called on the Justice Department to charge Castro and bring him to justice in the United States.

In a social media post Thursday evening in response to the CBS News report, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote, “Let ‘er rip, it’s been a long time coming!”