Raúl Castro indicted for murder as US carrier enters Caribbean

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges against former Cuban president Raúl Castro on Wednesday, including four counts of murder. Hours later, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group entered the Caribbean.

A federal grand jury in Miami returned the 20-page superseding indictment on 23 April. Castro, 94, and five co-defendants face charges of conspiracy to kill United States nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft. The charges arise from the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. The indictment was unsealed as the Nimitz and its escort vessels reached the southern Caribbean.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges at a news conference in Miami. He drew a direct comparison to the Trump administration’s pursuit of Nicolás Maduro.

“My message today is clear: The United States and President Trump does not, and will not, forget its citizens,” Blanche said. “We also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years.”

“President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed.”

Cuban MiG fighters shot down the two Cessna aircraft over international waters on 24 February 1996. The three Americans killed were Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Costa and Mario de la Peña; a fourth victim, Pablo Morales, was a Cuban-born permanent US resident. Castro was Cuba’s defence minister at the time and later served as president from 2008 to 2018. The indictment says he personally authorised the order.

The Nimitz deployment mirrors the Maduro playbook. The Justice Department indicted the Venezuelan president on drug trafficking charges in 2020; the USS Gerald Ford carrier group was later positioned in the Caribbean, and Maduro was taken into US custody in April 2026.

Asked whether the carrier signalled an imminent military move, Trump said: “I don’t think there needs to be an escalation. Look, the place is falling apart, it’s a mess.”

Blanche left the enforcement question open. “This isn’t a show indictment,” he said. “There’s all kinds of different ways to bring in defendants who are located in other countries.”

The indictment and carrier deployment are part of a broader pressure campaign. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a Spanish-language video message to the Cuban people on Wednesday. CIA Director John Ratcliffe was in the region earlier this month. The administration has also tightened an oil embargo that has deepened Cuba’s energy and humanitarian crisis.

Cuba has run out of oil and diesel, according to officials in Havana. Rolling blackouts have disrupted transport, health care, water systems and food distribution. President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the indictment “a political manoeuvre with no legal basis” in a statement broadcast on state television.

The Brothers to the Rescue shootdown has been the subject of US proceedings before. Five Cuban nationals were indicted in 2003, and a federal jury in Miami convicted five Cuban intelligence officers in 2001 of conspiracy to commit murder. Castro himself had never been charged until now.

Whether Castro ever appears in a US courtroom is uncertain. Extradition from Cuba is effectively impossible while the Castro family retains control of the state security apparatus. But Blanche’s insistence that the charges are operational, not symbolic, and the Nimitz’s presence in the Caribbean signal that the administration sees an opening.