The U.S. charged Raul Castro with murder. What's next for Cuba?

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]So, I've just stepped out of a press conference here at Miami's Freedom Tower, where the US unveiled criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro. Here's why it matters. It resembles the Trump administration's playbook in Venezuela, where they previously indicted the country's former president Nicolas Maduro, and then captured him in a raid in January. Now, Trump has said that Cuba is, quote, next, but there have been no indications of imminent military action yet. Raul Castro, then minister of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces, authorized and oversaw a military chain of command that ended with Cuban fighter jets firing air-to-air missiles at civilian aircraft over international waters.

[00:00:42]Those missiles destroyed the planes without warning and killed all aboard.

[00:00:47]Legally, there's this statute that criminalizes, uh, killing American citizens abroad. And all of these pilots were American citizens. So, that actually provides, uh, a pretty broad jurisdictional hook for US prosecutors.

[00:01:01]But again, the tricky part is getting them to the US to face the charges. With that stunning raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, I sort of feel like all bets are off, and I think that's the reaction that I was getting today talking to people, especially members of the diaspora community, about their reaction to this. During this press conference, Cuba's current president put out a statement on social media accusing the US of lying and distorting the facts around this shoot down, uh, in order to bring this politically motivated case.