Raul Castro Indicted | Is Cuba the Next Venezuela?

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Things seem to be heating up in the Caribbean yet again on May 20th, 2026.

[00:00:04]The US Department of Justice unsealed a federal grand jury indictment at the Freedom Tower in Miami.

[00:00:10]In that indictment, they charged former head of state Raul Castro with the murder of American civilians.

[00:00:15]That same day, the USS Nimitz carrier strike group entered into the Caribbean Sea, and they did it with quite some fanfare and announcements from the US government.

[00:00:23]Now, I am not a Navy person, but it does seem rather nonstandard to have a carrier strike group enter the Caribbean less.

[00:00:29]It's doing sea trials, workup for a possible deployment, etc. it's just not somewhere where we usually send our carrier strike group.

[00:00:37]I could be mistaken there, but the next day, Ice arrested a woman in Miami and the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.

[00:00:43]He personally revoked her green card.

[00:00:45]All three coordinated on Cuba's Independence Day.

[00:00:48]This is a playbook.

[00:00:49]And we have now, I think, seen it play out before.

[00:00:52]So first, let's jump back to February 24th, 1996, because you have to understand what the crime is before understanding what the charge is.

[00:01:00]Or at least that's the way I operate.

[00:01:02]Now there is an organization out of Miami called The Brothers to rescue Cuban exiles.

[00:01:06]It was a volunteer flying small Cessna over the Florida Straits looking for rafters, people on inner tubes, makeshift boats trying to get out of Cuba.

[00:01:15]The brothers to rescue would spot them and call them into the Coast Guard.

[00:01:19]No weapons, no military affiliation is just humanitarian surveillance, more or less.

[00:01:23]Now, in that February morning, three of those Cessna 337 departed Opa locka airport and headed for the Straits, and then a Cuban MiG 29 and MiG 23 intercepted these group of Cessna 333, and they fired air to air missiles.

[00:01:36]Two of the planes were knocked out of the sky.

[00:01:38]Now the International Civilian Aviation Organization, or ICAO, they investigated this and confirmed that both aircraft were shot down in international airspace.

[00:01:47]They weren't in Cuban territory nor the United States.

[00:01:49]They were international airspace.

[00:01:51]Four men passed away in this Carlos Costa, Mario de la Pena, Armando Alejandro and Pablo Morales.

[00:01:59]Three of the four were U.S.

[00:02:00]citizens.

[00:02:00]Congress actually passed a law condemning the attack.

[00:02:03]Back when this occurred.

[00:02:04]The language it was tantamount to cold blooded murder in a blatant violation of international law.

[00:02:09]In 2003, three of these Cuban Air Force officers were actually indicted tied to this shootdown, but the men who ordered it were not.

[00:02:17]Now, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch is standing at the same Freedom Tower.

[00:02:21]And the symbolism of that location, I definitely think, is deliberate.

[00:02:24]That building was the processing center for Cuban exiles, unsealing seven federal counts against Raul Castro, who is 94 years old, one count of conspiracy to kill U.S.

[00:02:35]nationals, four counts of murder, two counts of destruction of aircraft, which I didn't know that was a thing, but I guess it does make sense.

[00:02:42]Natural B was somehow convicted of all of these crimes.

[00:02:44]He would spend the rest of his days in prison.

[00:02:46]There's obviously a few things that have to happen before we get to that point.

[00:02:49]So the day before this indictment was unsealed, the National Security Archive released newly declassified records showing Clinton White House officials were warned a shoot down was coming a month in advance.

[00:02:59]They tried to get the brothers to the rescue to stand down.

[00:03:03]The mission went ahead anyway.

[00:03:05]Now, inside that indictment, it kind of explains why Cuban intelligence agents, known as the Wasp Network, had infiltrated the brothers to the rescue.

[00:03:12]For months.

[00:03:13]They were feeding real time intelligence to Havana.

[00:03:16]The Cuban military. New. Which planes were flying.

[00:03:19]And according to the indictment, they made a deliberate decision to take these actions.

[00:03:23]Now, Acting Attorney General Blanch at the Now, said, if you kill Americans, we will pursue, you know, matter who you are, no matter what title you hold.

[00:03:31]And in this case, no matter how much time has passed.

[00:03:34]So again, that same day as the indictments unsealed, South Comm, United States Southern Command post, welcome to the Caribbean Nimitz strike group.

[00:03:42]So obviously, again, this is not done in secret.

[00:03:45]The USS Nimitz is the oldest carrier in the US fleet currently on her final cruise.

[00:03:49]Now, the life of that I believe has been extended to March of 2027.

[00:03:53]Again, some of my Navy folks can correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:03:55]There she is positioned within striking distance of Cuba.

[00:03:58]The air wing on the Nimitz consists of a variety of Super Hornets E-2 Hawkeye growlers doing that electronic attack, suppression of enemy air defense mission set fitting into that role quite nicely when it comes to taking down enemy surface to air missile networks.

[00:04:12]But also alongside the Nimitz, you have the USS Iwo Jima.

[00:04:15]That's an amphibious assault ship, the USS Fort Lauderdale, USS Lake Erie, guided missile cruiser USS Billings, littoral combat ship.

[00:04:23]So you have a carrier strike group and a whole bunch of firepower parked right off the coast of Cuba.

[00:04:27]Now, on May 21st, we mentioned that Ice arrest a woman in Miami.

[00:04:30]And her name is Anas Maria.

[00:04:32]And Secretary Rubio actually personally revoked her green card.

[00:04:35]She is the sister of Brigadier General Latrice, the current head of the organization of the game.

[00:04:42]Now the GA YSA.

[00:04:43]That's a business administrative group.

[00:04:46]The name tells you nothing about what it actually is.

[00:04:49]Raul Castro built this in the 1990s, after the Soviet Union collapse, and cut off Cuba's primarily financial backing.

[00:04:56]The Cuban military needed a way to survive, so Raul built a conglomerate controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces to run Cuba's economy and in parallel to the civilian government.

[00:05:06]That is what it's been doing for nearly 30 years now.

[00:05:09]It's estimated economic footprint in Cuba, according to news articles, is somewhere between 40 and 70% of Cuba's entire economy.

[00:05:17]The Miami Herald obtained leaked financial documents putting the total assets under the gas at $18 billion as of 2024.

[00:05:26]Now, Cuba disputes this figure, but even as a conservative version of these numbers, it puts its cash reserves well above that of Costa Rica, Uruguay or Panama.

[00:05:35]The average Cuban makes less than $20 a month.

[00:05:37]So perspective wise, that's quite a lot of money.

[00:05:40]Now, this conglomerate owns all the five star hotels on Cuba.

[00:05:44]It owns ports, it owns commercial banking.

[00:05:46]It owns supermarket chains, gas stations, retail networks and everything in between.

[00:05:53]Any money that Cuban-Americans sent home flows through this conglomerate as well construction, logistics, fishing, foreign trade, the 4 to 2 story Tory Hotel in Havana, which was completed in 2025.

[00:06:04]It's completely empty, according to your reports.

[00:06:06]That is one of the buildings built by this conglomerate.

[00:06:08]Secretary Rubio mentioned this conglomerate eight times in a five minute video message to the Cuban people in May 20th.

[00:06:14]So this definitely seems like a great way to funnel money and keep those in power who want to be in power and maintain power in the country of Cuba.

[00:06:21]But that's just a surface level assessment there.

[00:06:23]Now, if we haven't been living under a rock, everyone is aware that in January of 2026, US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela.

[00:06:30]This is Cuba's primary oral supplier.

[00:06:32]Gone.

[00:06:33]Around 50 Cuban soldiers were reportedly killed in that operation.

[00:06:36]Those were the soldiers that supposedly were protecting Maduro, that were in his compound and that ultimately lost their lives.

[00:06:43]And there are pictures of them being flown back home in small boxes.

[00:06:47]Cuba's government publicly called it a blueprint and a warning, Trump has now stated.

[00:06:52]In March, he said regime change in Cuba is a question of time.

[00:06:55]We also had the CIA visiting Cuba this week, and apparently in his entourage was one of the individuals who was boots on the ground in Venezuela.

[00:07:02]That's according to social media.

[00:07:04]But nonetheless, there's a lot happening around Cuba and U.S.

[00:07:07]relations right now.

[00:07:08]So if we look at the sequence of events with Venezuela, we have sanctions, we have an embargo tightening, we have an oil blockade, we have their supply chain that was severed, if not completely clamped down.

[00:07:18]Then Maduro was indicted for drug trafficking.

[00:07:20]Now, if we pivot to Cuba, we have Raul Castro, who's been indicted for murder.

[00:07:24]With Venezuela, we saw naval assets deploying to the Caribbean and building up starting to strike drug boats.

[00:07:29]Now with Cuba, we have the USS Nimitz carrier strike group that is positioned more or less off the coast with Venezuela.

[00:07:35]We had the people versus Maduro, and now with Cuba, we have the people versus GA, that conglomerate that has all the money.

[00:07:42]Secretary Rubio framed it and stated it repeatedly.

[00:07:45]With Venezuela, we obviously have Maduro, who is captured with Operation Absolute Resolve in January of 2026.

[00:07:50]Cuba's outcome column is still open, though there are things that complicate this picture.

[00:07:55]Russia has pledged active support to Cuba if US strikes.

[00:07:59]The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Russian and Chinese signals intelligence personnel in Cuba have nearly tripled since 2023, with facilities reportedly targeting U.S.

[00:08:07]military command and control infrastructure in Florida.

[00:08:11]Cuba reportedly has over 300 Iranian and Russian source military drones.

[00:08:16]Those Shahid 136 and the Cuban military officials have reportedly discussed strikes on Key West and Bay.

[00:08:22]Remember, you do have Gautama Bay, which is a US Navy outpost.

[00:08:26]You have Key West Naval Air Station, you have Homestead Air Force Base and a smattering of high density population areas in southern Florida alone.

[00:08:35]So it could be quite nasty if Cuba is able to reach out and strike.

[00:08:39]Now the drone claims are reported, so definitely have to flag those as not confirmed.

[00:08:44]But given the way the world has operated and transpired over the last few years, I think it would be naive to make an assumption that there would not be a possible drone threat.

[00:08:53]Now, with the signals intelligence story that carries direct weight from the US government sourcing the CIA's assessment from earlier this year, Cuba's economy is Graham and bleak, but the regime is not necessarily on the verge of collapse.

[00:09:04]So here is where we are.

[00:09:06]A 94 year old former head of state is federally indicted as a murder suspect.

[00:09:10]A carrier strike group is now within striking distance of Havana.

[00:09:14]The GA Issa, that conglomerate of businesses, if you will.

[00:09:18]The director's sister, has now been arrested in the US and is in Ice custody.

[00:09:23]We have Russia and China that are running operations in Florida and off the Florida coast. So where does this go?

[00:09:29]I would be curious to get your read down below.

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