00:00U.S. indicts former Cuban President Raul Castro for 1996 shoot-down, escalating pressure campaign.
00:07Miami, May 20th. The U.S. Justice Department unsealed criminal charges on Wednesday against
00:14former Cuban President Raul Castro, accusing the 94-year-old of ordering the 1996 shoot-down of
00:21two unarmed civilian planes operated by a Miami-based exile group, killing four people,
00:27including three U.S. citizens. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges at
00:32a news conference in Miami, held on the anniversary of Cuba's independence from Spain.
00:38For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged
00:43in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens,
00:48Blanche said. The 1996 Incident
00:51On February 24th, 1996, three unarmed aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an organization
00:59that conducted humanitarian flights searching for Cuban migrants in distress, flew from
01:04South Florida toward Cuba. Cuban fighter jets, operating under a chain of command overseen by
01:10then-Defense Minister Raul Castro, fired air-to-air missiles at two Cessna aircraft in international
01:16waters north of Havana. All four men aboard were killed. The indictment charges Castro and five
01:22co-defendants with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts
01:28of murder. If convicted, defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment.
01:34However, the incident's context remains contested. Mark Entwistle, Canada's ambassador to Cuba at the time,
01:41told CBC News that while the shootdown was a tragedy, the group had previously conducted
01:46multiple low-level flyovers over Havana, dropping anti-government leaflets. The Cuban government had
01:52warned the group and the U.S. to stop incursions into its airspace. The Cuban government has long
01:58maintained that Brothers to the Rescue was linked to anti-Castro terrorist activities, and that the
02:04shootdown was legitimate self-defense. Trump, no immediate escalation needed. Speaking to
02:11reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, hours after the indictment was announced, President
02:16Donald Trump said there would be no immediate escalation of U.S. actions against Cuba.
02:21There won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart. It's a
02:26mess, Trump said. When asked whether a military operation similar to the January capture of Venezuelan
02:33President Nicolas Maduro might be necessary, Trump replied, I don't want to say that. However, he later
02:40told reporters at an Oval Office event that it looks like I'll be the one that does it, referring to
02:45military intervention that previous presidents had considered for decades. How will the U.S. bring
02:51Castro to justice? Blanche was asked what steps the U.S. would take to bring the 94-year-old former
02:57leader to face charges. This isn't a show indictment, Blanche said, adding, we expect that he will show up
03:04here, by his own will or by another way. Cuban officials have given no indication they would
03:10allow extradition, and analysts widely expect Castro to remain in Cuba, where he continues to
03:15wield influence, despite formally stepping down as Communist Party chief in 2021. Cuba denounces
03:22his political maneuver. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the indictment on social
03:27media, calling it a political maneuver, devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at padding
03:33the fabricated dossier they used to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.
03:38He maintained that Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense, following repeated and dangerous
03:43violations of its airspace by what he called a narco-terrorist organization. On February 24, 1996,
03:50Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense within its jurisdictional waters, Diaz-Canel wrote,
03:57adding that the U.S. administration at the time had been alerted on more than a dozen occasions
04:01about the incursions. U.S. officials signal regime change goal. Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
04:09the son of Cuban immigrants, who has long taken a hard line against Havana's socialist government,
04:13told reporters in Miami that the U.S. is focused on changing Cuba's political system.
04:18Their economic system doesn't work. It's broken, and you can't fix it with the current political
04:23system that's in place, Rubio said. They're not going to be able to wait us out or buy time.
04:29We're very serious. We're very focused. Asked whether the U.S. would use force to achieve
04:34regime change, Rubio said a diplomatic settlement was preferred, but noted that the president always
04:40has the option to do whatever it takes to support and protect the national interest.
04:44Cuba's deepening crisis. The indictment comes as Cuba faces its worst economic crisis in decades.
04:52Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January, who faces federal drug
04:58trafficking charges in New York, Washington imposed a de facto energy blockade on Cuba, threatening
05:04sanctions on countries supplying fuel to the island. Cubans now suffer power outages of up to 20 hours
05:10daily, severe food shortages, and runway inflation. Water taps have run dry in some areas, and piles
05:17of trash have accumulated on Havana's streets. Rubio announced that Cuba has accepted an offer of $100
05:24million in aid, but he described the chances of a negotiated diplomatic resolution as not high.
05:31Military posture. The U.S. military announced the arrival of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier
05:37and accompanying ships in the Caribbean Sea on the same day the charges against Castro were unsealed,
05:42as part of ongoing maritime exercises with regional partners. The move has fueled speculation that
05:48Washington may be following the same playbook it used against Venezuela. Criminal indictments followed
05:54by military action. China's position. China has opposed U.S. sanctions and pressure on Cuba.
06:00Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Thursday that China firmly supports Cuba in
06:07safeguarding its national sovereignty and national dignity, and opposes external interference.
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