DOJ indicts Raúl Castro over fatal 1996 civilian planes’ shooting

BREAKING NEWSMay. 20, 2026, 5:35 PM UTCJustice DepartmentJustice DepartmentDOJ indicts Raúl Castro over fatal 1996 civilian planes’ shootingThe 94-year-old former president of Cuba was head of the military when two small airplanes from Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group, were shot down, killing four Cuban Americans.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Raul Castro in Havana on May 1.Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleBy Nicole Acevedo, Carmen Sesin, Ryan J. Reilly, Gary Grumbach and Orlando MatosMIAMI — The Justice Department indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on Wednesday in connection with the 1996 shooting of two civilian planes that killed four Cuban Americans.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Castro, 94, who is the brother of the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, is being charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, murder and destruction of aircraft, according to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.The charges were announced during a press conference in front of Miami’s Freedom Tower, a symbol for Cuban Americans who left the communist country — it’s referred to as “the Ellis Island of the South” — and on May 20, the date recognized as the Cuban Independence Day. The announcement was met with loud cheers from the crowd.During the press conference, officials also honored the four Cuban American men — three U.S. citizens and one a U.S. legal resident — who died aboard the civilian planes downed by the Cuban Air Force on Feb. 24, 1996. At that time, Castro was Cuba’s defense minister. The civilian planes belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded in 1991 by Cuban American pilot José Basulto and other Cuban exiles. The group would go on missions to rescue Cubans in the waters between Cuba and Florida, after they fled the communist country in makeshift rafts. During one of those missions, two of their planes were sh...