Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Justice Department is preparing a possible indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue aircraft, according to reporting from Reuters and CBS News.
The planned case, overseen by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, would still need approval from a grand jury. Castro, 94, led Cuba after his brother Fidel Castro and remains a symbolic figure in the communist government.
The case centers on Cuba’s downing of planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian group that searched for migrants at sea. The incident killed four people and has remained a major flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations for nearly three decades.
The possible indictment comes as President Donald Trump increases pressure on Cuba through sanctions and threats targeting fuel suppliers. Those moves have further strained Cuba’s fragile economy and worsened power shortages across the island.
CBS News also reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe recently met with Cuban officials and told them the United States is prepared to engage on economic and security issues if Cuba makes “fundamental changes.”
The Justice Department and Cuba’s foreign ministry did not provide public comment, leaving the indictment effort pending and not yet formally filed.
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