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The U.S. is taking steps to indict former Cuban President Raul Castro, 94, over the deadly 1996 shootdown of planes operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, CBS News reported.
The potential indictment would need to be approved by a grand jury.
It is expected to focus on the downing of two Cessna aircraft nearly 30 years ago, an incident that killed four people.
The case centers on the February 1996 incident in which two Cessnas operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down by a Cuban MiG-29 fighter jet.
Brothers to the Rescue was an exile group that searched for Cubans trying to flee the island on rafts. Four people were killed in the shootdown.
A report by the Organization of American States found that the planes were shot down outside Cuban airspace. The report alleged that Cuba violated international law by shooting without warning and without evidence that such action was necessary.
The incident drew outrage at the time. President Bill Clinton condemned it “in the strongest possible terms.”
Cuban officials have argued that the shootdown was legitimate, claiming the group had violated Cuban airspace and sought to carry out acts of sabotage on infrastructure.
Fidel Castro later told “CBS Evening News” anchor Dan Rather that the Cuban military was acting on his “general orders” to stop planes from encroaching on the country. Fidel Castro, who died in 2016, was Cuba’s leader at the time of the shootdown, while Raul Castro 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 information about Brothers to the Rescue to the Cuban intelligence service.
Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison but was sent to Cuba in a 2014 prisoner swap.
The possible indictment comes as the U.S. has intensified pressure on the Cuban government.
The Trump administration has threatened heavy tariffs on any country that exports oil to Cuba, contributing to energy shortages as oil shipments have largely been cut off.
President Trump has pressed for major reforms in Cuba and has floated what he described as a “friendly takeover” of the country.
The pressure on Cuba began to increase in January, after the U.S. military removed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from power and flew him to New York to face drug charges. Venezuela had been a key partner of Cuba before the operation.
Raul Castro formally stepped down as leader of Cuba’s Communist Party in 2021, but he is still widely seen as one of the country’s most powerful figures.
His grandson, Raul Guillermo Rodriguez 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.
A CIA official said 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.”
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, CBS News previously reported.
The initiative involves federal and local law enforcement and the U.S. Treasury Department. It is pursuing prosecutions involving economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations, with a focus on targeting figures in Communist Party leadership.
The potential action against Raul Castro comes as Florida officials and lawmakers have also renewed attention on the 1996 plane shootdown.
Earlier this year, Florida’s attorney general said at a March news conference that he was reopening a shuttered state investigation into the same 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 responding to the CBS News report, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote, “Let ’er rip, it’s been a long time coming!”
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