Miami judge issues arrest warrant for Raul Castro over 1996 plane shootdown

A judge in Miami has issued an arrest warrant for 95-year-old former Cuban President Raul Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes that killed four people, including three US citizens.

The warrant accuses Castro of conspiring with Cuban intelligence agents to commit first-degree murder. It was signed Friday following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, according to court documents obtained by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times.

The affidavit argues that Florida has jurisdiction to charge Castro because two Cuban spies allegedly “infiltrated” the Brothers to the Rescue group in Miami and Key West and relayed flight information to Cuban authorities ahead of the shootdown.

The Brothers to the Rescue group is a Florida-based nonprofit formed by Cuban exiles known for their opposition to the Cuban government.

According to the affidavit, the spy network instructed its informants not to fly with the group between Feb. 24-27, 1996. One of the informants left Florida and returned to Cuba on Feb. 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 reads.

On Feb. 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two small aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, killing all four people on board.

Cuba claimed the planes were in its airspace and justified the action as self-defense, while the US said they were over international waters, a position later supported by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which concluded the incident occurred outside Cuban airspace.

The affidavit said there was enough evidence to suspect a conspiracy in Florida, as spies had shared flight information and monitored the naval air station.

The warrant comes months after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a state-level criminal investigation in March into Castro’s role in the incident.

It is the second warrant issued against Castro over the incident.

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 state’s latest warrant marks a new step in a case that has seen decades of calls for prosecutions, with the 30th anniversary of the incident falling 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 the island nation for nearly 50 years and died in 2016. He served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018, succeeding Fidel, who had temporarily transferred power to him in 2006 after becoming seriously ill.