U.S. indicts Raúl Castro

The U.S. Justice Department said on May 20 that it had unsealed a superseding indictment charging former Cuban president Raúl Castro and five other Cuban officials over the Feb. 24, 1996 destruction of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft. Prosecutors said the planes were unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group and were shot down over international waters. The indictment was filed in the Southern District of Florida and accuses the defendants of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft and murder. ### Who did U.S. prosecutors charge? Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, of Holguín, Cuba, is named in the superseding indictment alongside Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raúl Simanca Cárdenas and Luis Raúl González-Pardo Rodríguez, according to the Justice Department. The department said the case was unsealed on Wednesday, May 20. (justice.gov) Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case seeks accountability for the deaths of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales. FBI Director Kash Patel said three of the four were U.S. citizens. ### What does the indictment say happened in 1996? Feb. 24, 1996, is the date prosecutors say Cuban forces shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes. (justice.gov) The Justice Department said the aircraft were operating over international waters when they were destroyed. The court document says Brothers to the Rescue, or Hermanos al Rescate, was a Miami organization that flew unarmed Cessna aircraft to search for or guide Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits. (justice.gov) Prosecutors allege Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated the group in the early 1990s and sent detailed information about its flight operations back to the Cuban government. ### Why is this a “superseding” indictment? An April 23, 2026 filing date appears on the court document posted by the Justice Department, which identifies the charging document as a superseding indictment in a long-running federal case. That means prosecutors updated an existing indictment rather than starting an entirely new case. The Justice Department did not say in the release why the indictment was superseded, but it said the newly unsealed version charges Castro and the five co-defendants for their alleged roles in the 1996 shootdown. (justice.gov) ### What is Brothers to the Rescue? Brothers to the Rescue was based in Miami and conducted humanitarian flights across the Florida Straits to search for Cuban migrants in distress, the Justice Department said. (justice.gov) The court filing says that in the 1990s the group also flew missions supporting anti-Castro, pro-democracy movements in Cuba. (justice.gov) January 1996 is identified in the indictment as a key precursor. Prosecutors allege Brothers to the Rescue aircraft entered or flew near Cuban airspace and dropped pro-democracy leaflets on the island, and that the Cuban military then trained MiG fighter jets to track planes flying at the speeds and altitudes used by the group’s Cessnas. ### What have U.S. officials said about the case now? (justice.gov) Todd Blanche said, “Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable” for the killings. Kash Patel called the superseding indictment “a major step toward accountability,” and U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said, “This passage of time does not erase murder.” (justice.gov) The Justice Department said the indictment was unsealed in Miami on May 20. The next public developments are likely to come through filings in the Southern District of Florida or additional statements from the department and the FBI. (justice.gov)