BREAKING: Raúl Castro Indicted

On Tuesday, May 20 — which is also Cuba's Independence Day — the Department of Justice (DOJ) officially unsealed a federal grand jury indictment of Raúl Castro. Castro, who will be 95 years old in June, is the brother of Fidel Castro and the former "president" of Cuba. Despite his advanced age and frail health, Raúl and his family remain very involved in running the country, if you want to call it that, and the suppression of the Cuban people.

Charges against Castro include conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and murder. Five other co-defendants face similar charges.  

The announcement came during a formal DOJ ceremony at Miami's historic Freedom Tower, which served as a processing facility for Cuban refugees during the 1960s and 1970s. It was a powerful and symbolic moment for the millions of people who have fled Cuba's communism over the years. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones, FBI Deputy Director Christopher G. Raia, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier were all in attendance, and the crowd went wild with cheers and applause when Blanche announced the charges.

The indictment comes after, earlier this year, Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.), María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Carlos A. Giménez (R-Fla.), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) sent a strongly worded letter to President Donald Trump and then Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking the DOJ to pursue criminal charges against Castro for his role in the 1996 Brother to the Rescue shootdown. 

Here's more on that from what I wrote in February: 

Brothers to the Rescue, or Hermanos al Rescate, is a Miami-based humanitarian and political activism organization that was formed by Cuban exiles in the early 1990s and that opposes the communist regime and the Castros. Some of its work includes rescuing Cubans who tried to flee the country via raft and spreading pro-democracy ideals, which included dropping leaflets into the country from a plane. 

In 1996, Cuba shot down two of the organization's unarmed planes over the Florida Straits, in an area considered to be international waters, killing the four people aboard: Carlos Costa; Armando Alejandre, Jr.; Mario de la Peña; and Pablo Morales. Three of them were United States citizens, while the fourth was a permanent resident. February 24 will mark the 30th anniversary of their deaths.  

At the time, Raúl was the minister of defense and part of the chain of command that ordered the attack. The United States, the United Nations, and numerous members of the International Community condemned it. 

It was cold-blooded murder of civilians on a humanitarian mission. There will be no more impunity.  

While the case remained dormant for decades, it has been revived under the Trump administration as part of the maximum pressure campaign against the Cuban regime. Prosecutors claim that Castro ordered the attack, and evidence includes an 11-minute audio recording, which the U.S. has had access to for years. On it, you can hear Castro tell MiG pilots to "knock them down into the seas."   

The 94-year-old dictator will unlikely see his day in court, but today's indictment does come with consequences. He is now an international fugitive from justice, which means he can't move freely around the world. It also sends a strong message to the rest of the regime: Trump isn't playing around.  

"The United States and Donald Trump will not forget its citizens," Blanche said during today's announcement, adding, "If you kill Americans, we will pursue you, no matter who you are or no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed."

It's a shame that so many administrations before this one didn't feel that way.  

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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