Federal prosecutors in Miami unsealed an indictment on the date of 2026-05-20 charging former Cuban President Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
The case centers on the deaths of four members of the group, which flew Cessna aircraft from South Florida. According to the accounts cited in the charging announcement and contemporaneous reporting, Cuban Air Force MiG fighters fired air-to-air missiles at the planes on February 24, 1996. The aircraft were described as civilian and unarmed. AFP reported, citing the indictment unsealed by a federal district court in Florida, that Castro faces conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying aircraft.
Castro, now 94, was Cuba’s defense minister at the time of the incident and later became president. The Associated Press reported that federal prosecutors charged him with ordering the shootdown. The indictment also names five others, according to the Justice Department announcement described in the case materials, though the excerpts provided do not identify the additional defendants.
Brothers to the Rescue was a Cuban-American exile organization based in Miami. Before the shootdown, its planes had been used to assist the U.S. Coast Guard in locating Cubans attempting to reach Florida by sea and, at other times, to drop anti-Castro leaflets over Havana. AFP identified the group’s founder as Jose Basulto, a Cuban exile, licensed pilot and Bay of Pigs veteran. Basulto was flying a third aircraft on the day of the attack and was not shot down.
The four people killed included three Americans, AFP reported. Their bodies were never recovered. The same report cited the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights as finding that the Cessna pilots were not warned before the Cuban jets fired on them. AFP also reported that the aircraft were downed in international airspace.
The indictment follows decades of pressure from victims’ relatives, U.S. lawmakers and members of the Cuban exile community who had sought criminal accountability for the episode. The shootdown has long remained one of the most disputed and emotionally charged incidents in U.S.-Cuba relations after the Cold War, particularly in South Florida, where the exile community has sustained public attention on the case.
The charges were disclosed during a period of renewed U.S. pressure on Cuba’s communist leadership. AFP reported that President Donald Trump had recently escalated rhetoric toward Havana, including saying the United States would be “taking over” the Caribbean island. The excerpts do not describe any Cuban government response to the indictment.
As with any indictment, the charges are allegations and do not establish guilt. The public excerpts do not state whether Castro or the other accused defendants were in U.S. custody, had appeared in court, or had legal representation in the case.
