Four Cuban American members of Congress on Friday wrote to President Trump calling for the indictment of Cuba's de facto dictator, Raul Castro, for allegedly ordering the 1996 downing of a plane that was dropping supplies to people who were fleeing to the U.S. on rafts.
- Four members of an aid group were killed in the incident.
Why it matters: If Trump's Justice Department acts on the request and secures an indictment, it would be the latest move by his administration aimed at pressuring Cuba's struggling government to change its communist leadership.
- Crippling U.S. sanctions and government mismanagement have brought Cuba closer to collapse than ever since the revolution of 1959.
Zoom in: The letter, citing a Miami Herald story from 1996, quotes Castro bragging about ordering the shootdown of a plane flown by a Miami-based aid group called Brothers to the Rescue.
- Castro was head of Cuba's military at the time. His brother, Fidel Castro, was the country's leader. Raul Castro is now 94; Fidel Castro died in 2016 at age 90.
- After the aid plane was shot down, Cuba accused Brothers to the Rescue of invading Cuban air space. The U.S. said the plane was in international waters.
- Feb. 24 marks the 30th anniversary of the incident, which prompted the enshrining of the U.S. embargo of Cuba into federal law.
Zoom out: The call for Castro to be indicted comes as the Trump administration is intensely focused on expanding U.S. power in the Western Hemisphere.
- On Jan. 3, the U.S. military seized Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Cuba who'd been indicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
- That seizure coincidentally was came on the 36th anniversary of the U.S. capture of Panama President Manuel Noriega, who also had been indicted.
After Maduro's ouster, the U.S. forced Venezuela's government to stop sending oil to Cuba. It has pressured Mexico to do the same, prompting an energy crisis in the island nation.
What they're saying: "We respectfully request the Department of Justice consider indicting Raul Castro, who is responsible for the cold-blooded murders of three Americans and a U.S. permanent resident in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown of two civilian aircraft by Cuban Mig fighter jets," the letter said.
- The letter was written authored by Miami Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Gimenez and Maria Elvira Salazar. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from New York who is of Cuban descent, co-signed the letter.
- The White House could not be immediately reached for comment.
- A spokesperson for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Miami hardliner like the signatories, also could not be immediately reached for comment.
The intrigue: An administration source said Trump and DOJ would look kindly on the request.
- Raul Castro, who officially gave up his leadership of Cuba's communist party in 2021, is still seen by the Trump administration as the true power center in Cuba.
The backstory: The legacy of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown has salience today because it prompted Congress and then-President Clinton to codify the embargo of Cuba in federal law in 1996.
- The law, called the Helms-Burton Act, requires Cuba to free political prisoners, allow for a free press and free labor rights and to hold fair elections.
Two weeks ago, Rubio name-checked Helms-Burton in a Senate hearing when Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) asked him if the U.S. would rule out regime change in Cuba.
- "Regime change? Oh no, I think we would love to see the regime there change," Rubio said. "That doesn't mean that we're going to make a change, but we would love to see a change. There's no doubt about the fact that it would be of great benefit to the United States if Cuba was no longer governed by an autocratic regime."
- Schatz pressed Rubio by questioning whether the U.S. would use military force in Cuba and "precipitate the fall of the current regime."
- "Yeah, but that's statutory," Rubio responded. "The Helms-Burton Act —the U.S. embargo on Cuba— is codified. It was codified in law and it requires regime change in order for us to lift the embargo."
The story has been updated with additional context.
