MIAMI—Thirty years after Cuban fighter jets blasted two small civilian planes out of the sky over the Florida Straits, killing four men connected to the Miami exile group Brothers to the Rescue, the United States announced what could become one of the most politically explosive indictments in modern U.S.-Cuba history.
During an event held in Miami's Freedom Tower, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro tied to the Feb. 24, 1996, shootdown that shattered U.S.-Cuba relations and traumatized South Florida's Cuban exile community. Castro was Cuba's defense minister at the time and later became president after his brother Fidel Castro stepped aside.
