00:00The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday
00:03indicted 94-year-old former Cuban President Raul Castro on murder charges.
00:08Raul Castro, who is the brother of the late Fidel Castro,
00:12is accused over the 1996 downing of a plane that carried critics of the Cuban state.
00:18An unsealed indictment accuses him and others of conspiracy to kill Americans, among other charges.
00:25Today, we are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others
00:34with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.
00:41Mr. Castro and the others are charged with additional crimes as well,
00:45including destruction of aircraft and four individual counts of murder.
00:51Current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced the indictment,
00:56calling the charges a political maneuver devoid of any legal foundation.
01:01Raul Castro succeeded his brother, Fidel, as president of Cuba
01:05and oversaw a historic 2015 rapprochement with the United States under Barack Obama
01:12that Donald Trump later reversed.
01:14Tensions between Washington and Havana have spiked in recent months
01:19since U.S. forces ousted Cuba's regional ally, Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro,
01:25and then imposed a painful energy blockade on the already economically struggling island nation.
01:31Speaking after the indictment, U.S. President Donald Trump said
01:35there was no need for escalation with Cuba.
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