US announces charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro in 1996 downing of aircraft

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[00:00:00]Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been indicted in the United States. This comes from a senior Trump administration official this Wednesday. It's a move that marks an escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against the Caribbean island's communist government. The indictment came as US President Donald Trump pushes for regime change in Cuba where Castro's communists have been in charge since his late brother Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1959.

[00:00:24]The indictments of the deaths in 1996 of four Cuban Americans whose private aircraft was shot down off the island.

[00:00:31]They were reportedly anti-Castro activists. And almost simultaneously, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a message to the Cuban people. Rubio himself of Cuban heritage offered them what he called a new path. This includes, he says, greater control of the democratic process on the island.

[00:00:50]Well, Trump has said repeatedly that Cuba could be the next regime that is changed by the United States. So, let's bring in our Washington correspondent Fraser Jackson for more on this one.

[00:01:00]Fraser, the indictment of Raul Castro, where's this one going?

[00:01:08]Yeah, Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba. He was president between 2008 and 2018. Of course, the brother of Fidel Castro, arguably a more famous name in Cuban history. But, the charges that are levied against him, murder and conspiracy, are based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, the Brothers to the Rescue organization.

[00:01:32]They were carrying out regular flights attempting to find and assist Cubans trying to sail to the United States. And two civilian Cessna planes were over international waters when they were shot down by Cuban MiG fighter jets, killing three American citizens and one resident of the US as well. Now, Cuba said that the planes were in Cuban airspace and constituted a threat, which Fidel Castro said that he gave the orders to shoot them down himself, but Raul Castro was serving as the Minister of the Armed Forces at the time. That is where these indictments stem from. So, a legal response to to that initial that initial incident back in the United States in the '90s led to tougher sanctions on Cuba, and that also remains the basis of what the US embargoes on the country are on as well. And this indictment today came on Cuban Independence Day, which commemorates the end of the US military occupation of the island in 1902. So, a symbolic day as well chosen to instill this indictment, but of course, there are concerns that this could be a pretext for a wider operation on the island.

[00:02:35]Before we move on to the next part of Fraser's intervention with us, let's take a listen to the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

[00:03:22]It's powerful when a politician is communicating in a different language, and Rubio, of course, with his Cuban heritage, very much at home in the Spanish tongue. Let's go back to Fraser for more on Rubio's message to the Cuban people. And of course, Donald Trump has been saying that, you know, the US could change the regime in Cuba. This could be an idle threat. It could be a plan. Give us your sense of where we are.

[00:03:46]Yeah, this really this message from Rubio, I think it's a significant departure from the grandstanding of Donald Trump. He's really appealing to the people of Cuba to almost kind of rise up for themselves. It reads us when you listen to the words that he is saying that he's offering a hundred million dollars in aid and relief, but says that must be distributed to the Cuban people themselves and not through the political institutions that govern them and has to go through the Catholic Church and things like that. But this moment really marks an uptick in the tension between the US and Cuba. Of course, the US has become increasingly confrontational with Cuba intensifying those sanctions that I mentioned imposing oil blockades. Marco Rubio though in that message saying it is not because of the US blockades that this blackouts that the that the Cubans are experiencing these 22-hour day blackouts. They say that they've been happening long before those US blockades were put in place. But as I mentioned, some are believing that this new indictment that was announced at the same time as this video could be the pretext to the US launching some kind of The The indictment of Maduro back last year which then led to the early January raid of Maduro in which he was seized and brought to the United States. Well, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked about this and was vague on how he answered as to whether this indictment could be a pretext. He said that Castro will show up here by his own will or by another way saying there are all kinds of different ways that we can get people to the United States to face justice.

[00:05:21]Todd Blanche also being vague about what the aim is here. But of course, Donald Trump has been for months months applying pressure to Cuba to try to topple the government there both economics wise in terms of the energy sector as well. So it is really the the sites that they have here on Cuba.

[00:05:40]And of course, Marco Rubio has a very kind of personal skin in the game considering that both of his parents are Cuban and fled Cuba just three years before Castro came to power.

[00:05:49]Fraser Jackson in Washington, thank you very much indeed.