The United States has brought an indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, accusing him of murder of American citizens and conspiracy. Interim Attorney General Todd Blanche was present in the city of Miami from where he announced the charges.
Castro is charged with the deaths of four civilian pilots who were attempting to rescue people fleeing the island on rafts.
These four pilots were part of the humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue, which flew two planes over international waters, and were shot down by Cuban military aircraft under Castro’s orders in 1996.
Today, precisely as Cuba’s Independence Day is celebrated, these formal charges are brought by the United States government. This news has given hope to the Cuban exile, who hopes it will mark the beginning of the end of the Castro dictatorship on the island.
“If they kill Americans, we will pursue them, regardless of who they are, regardless of what title they hold, and, in this case, regardless of how much time has passed,” Blanche said.
For his part, the current president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reacted via social media to these accusations against Castro, who is 94 years old.
A asserting that this accusation “only evidences the arrogance and the frustration that the representatives of the empire feel at the unwavering firmness of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.”
He accuses the United States government that this is a political action with no legal basis.
“The United States lies and manipulates the events surrounding the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue aircraft in 1996.”
He added that “Cuba acted in legitimate defense, within its territorial waters, after successive and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists, of which the current U.S. administration was alerted on more than a dozen occasions, but ignored the warnings and allowed the violations.”
Experts say that with this the Donald Trump administration will be able to pressure the island and seek a change in favor of the Cuban people.
