HIALEAH GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - The U.S. Department of Justice is planning to indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro in connection to the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, according to Reuters and CBS News.
The Feb. 24, 1996 downing of two unarmed planes over international waters claimed the lives of four flyers who were on the humanitarian mission.
According to multiple reports, the three U.S. citizens and legal U.S. resident who were killed — Armando Alejandre, Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario Manuel de la Peña, and Pablo Morales — were part of Brothers to the Rescue, an exile group of volunteer pilots that searched for people in rafts trying to flee the island.
Friday morning, a reporter asked U.S. President Donald Trump about the matter after he boarded Air Force One in China.
“I don’t want to comment on that; I’ll let DOJ comment on it, but they need help, as you know,” he said. “You’re talking about a declining country; they are really a nation or a country in decline.”
The families of the victims and members of the Cuban exile community in South Florida have long called for action against Castro, 94, the brother of Fidel Castro.
In a February interview with 7News, De la Peña’s parents, Miriam and Mario, did not mince words when it came to Cuba’s former leader.
“He’s a criminal. He should have been indicted,” said Mario.
“I would like to see anybody that commits such a crime indicted and serve prison for murder,” said Miriam.
Cuban Americans in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood reacted to the news on Friday morning.
Cuban American resident Rick Amaro compared the situation to the recent capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“I don’t think there’s a necessity for it to take so long,” he said Rick Amaro. “It’s pretty simple: Give a deal to [Cuban President Miguel Díaz-]Canel to get out and arrest Raúl. That’s what we just need to do. It was simple in Venezuela; why isn’t it simple in Cuba? Let’s get it done.”
“He should be indicted. It should have been [done] a long time ago,” said Cuban American resident John Gonzalez. “He killed those people because he wanted to kill them.”
U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., and other politicians have also pushed for this indictment, writing letters to the Trump administration.
“Raúl Castro is on tape, from what I understand, saying that he ordered the shootdown of one of those planes over international waters by a MiG [jet] that killed those four individuals,” said Gimenez in a CNN interview.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami has been overseeing an effort to examine potential crimes against senior Cuban officials for the past several months, but it remains unclear when an indictment against Castro could come, as a grand jury would need to approve the charges.
The report about a possible indictment against Castro came hours after Cuban and U.S. officials confirmed a meeting between top Cuban officials and CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Havana where Cuban leaders appeared to accept a $100 million humanitarian offer from the United States. it’s unclear how the news of the possible indictment is going to play a role in those conversations.
In response to CBS News’ initial report, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote in an X post, “Let ‘er rip, it’s been a long time coming.”
“Prosecute him, put him [in jail] for life, or whatever life he’s got left,” said Gonzalez.
There is no clear timeline as to when a potential indictment would happen, but according to multiple reporting sources, it is going to be happening pretty quickly.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.