OMM Newsroom
A Miami judge has issued an arrest warrant for 95-year-old former Cuban President Raul Castro over the 1996 shooting down of two civilian aircraft that killed four people, including three US citizens, Anadolu Agency reported.
The warrant accuses Castro of conspiring with Cuban intelligence agents to commit first-degree murder. It was signed on Friday after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.
An affidavit argues that Florida has jurisdiction to prosecute Castro because two Cuban spies allegedly infiltrated the Miami- and Key West-based group Brothers to the Rescue and relayed flight information to Cuban authorities before the aircraft were shot down.
Brothers to the Rescue is a Florida-based non-profit formed by Cuban exiles known for opposing the Cuban government.
According to the affidavit, the spy network told its informants not to fly with the group from February 24 to 27, 1996. One informant left Florida and returned to Cuba on February 23, the day before the aircraft were shot down.
“There is probable cause to believe the defendant, Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, agreed with others to commit first-degree murder of persons aboard the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft,” the affidavit says.
On February 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two small aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, killing all four people on board.
Cuba said the aircraft were in its airspace and justified the action as self-defence. The United States said they were over international waters, a position later supported by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which concluded that the incident occurred outside Cuban airspace.
The affidavit says there was sufficient evidence to suspect a conspiracy in Florida, citing the spies’ sharing of flight information and monitoring of the naval air station.
The warrant follows Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s announcement in March of a state-level criminal investigation into Castro’s role in the incident. It is the second warrant issued against Castro over the case.
Castro, who was Cuba’s armed forces chief at the time, was also charged by the US Justice Department in May with murder and conspiracy to kill.
The latest state warrant marks another step in a case that has drawn calls for prosecution for decades. The incident’s 30th anniversary falls this year.
Uthmeier is expected to announce the arrest warrant at a news conference in Miami on Monday.
Raul Castro is the brother of the late Fidel Castro, who led Cuba for nearly 50 years and died in 2016. Raul Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018, succeeding Fidel, who had temporarily transferred power to him in 2006 after becoming seriously ill.
