US Charges Former Cuban President Raul Castro Over Murder

Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been charged in the United States with murder. A major escalation in Washington’s campaign to pressure the communist government of Cuba. Raul Castro, 94, last appeared in public in Cuba earlier this month, and there is no evidence that he has left the country, or that the government would permit his extradition to the United States. The charges come as U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed for regime change in Cuba, where the Communist Party has been in power since Raul’s older brother Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1959. According to the BBC, on Thursday 21 May 2026, Raul Castro is charged with conspiracy to murder a U.S. citizen in connection with the 1996 downing of two aircraft near Florida, which killed four people. The indictment was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday 20 May local time. In addition to Raul Castro, prosecutors also charged five other individuals alleged to be involved in the operation to shoot down civilian aircraft belonging to the refugee group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro served as Cuba’s defence minister at the time. The charges include murder and destruction of aircraft. In a statement on Wednesday morning local time, Trump described Cuba as a ‘rogue state that shelters hostile foreign militaries’. ‘From the beaches of Havana to the edge of the Panama Canal, we will drive out powers that break the law, commit crimes, and interfere,’ Trump said at an event at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Previously, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last Monday that the island did not pose a threat. The indictment marks a new low in the long-strained relations between the two Cold War rivals. After taking power, Fidel Castro forged an alliance with the Soviet Union, then seized businesses and property owned by the United States. Since then, the United States has maintained an economic embargo against the country with a population of around 10 million. The two sides have spoken periodically over the years. Diplomatic ties briefly improved during the second term of former U.S. President Barack Obama. However, Trump has taken a harder line.