Florida Secures State Arrest Warrant for Former Cuban Leader Raúl Castro
Warrant charges Raúl Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in 1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue aircraft.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that the state has obtained an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro. The warrant, issued in Miami-Dade County, charges Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder without bond, stemming from the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue organization. The incident resulted in the deaths of four American pilots.
Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to join Uthmeier at a press conference to discuss the warrant. The document alleges that probable cause exists to believe Castro conspired to commit first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr. The warrant indicates that investigators found evidence of a conspiracy to kill the occupants of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft.
The Florida investigation alleges that a plan by the Cuban regime's foreign intelligence service to shoot down the aircraft and kill their occupants traveled through the chain of command in 1996, with both Raúl Castro and his brother, then-leader Fidel Castro, as the ultimate decision-makers. Raúl Castro, now 95, was quoted in the warrant recounting orders he gave to senior military leaders, stating that he had made it clear that orders to shoot down the planes should be decentralized and that they should be shot down at sea if they appeared over Cuban territory.
Brothers to the Rescue was a Miami-based organization that conducted search and rescue missions for Cuban migrants and engaged in anti-Castro political activities, including dropping leaflets over Cuba. The Cuban government has consistently rejected U.S. efforts to prosecute Castro, asserting that the organization repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and that Cuba acted in defense of its sovereignty.
The state arrest warrant marks a new legal front in attempts to hold Castro accountable for the 1996 incident, which has had a lasting impact on the Cuban-American community in South Florida. Castro already faces separate federal charges related to the shootdown. The Florida warrant also authorizes authorities to pursue Castro's extradition to Florida if he is arrested in another U.S. jurisdiction. The Office of Statewide Prosecution will oversee the multi-circuit criminal conspiracy case against Castro.