The Trump administration is expected to announce criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro on Wednesday, a move that could signal an escalation of Washington’s campaign to suppress the communist government on the Caribbean island.
The charges against Castro, 94, are expected to stem from a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes used by a group of Cuban exiles, a US Justice Department official told Reuters last week on condition of anonymity.
The Miami US attorney’s office plans to host an event beginning at 1 p.m. EDT to honor the victims of the shooting. The Justice Department said Tuesday it would make an announcement in conjunction with the event, but did not provide details on the announcement.
President Donald Trump has been seeking regime change in Cuba, where communists have been in power since Raul Castro’s late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
The US has successfully blockaded the island by threatening sanctions on countries that supply it with fuel, causing blackouts and dealing blows to its already fragile economy.
Cuba has not specifically clarified the threat of impeachment, although Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed disdain for public comment on May 15.
“Despite the (US) embargo, sanctions and threats to use force, Cuba continues on an independent path in its social development,” said Rodriguez.
Born in 1931, Raul Castro was a key figure along with his older brother in the guerrilla war that overthrew US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
He helped defeat the Bay of Pigs attack in the US in 1961, and served as defense minister for decades. He succeeded his brother as president and remains a powerful figure behind the scenes in Cuban politics.
He was the defense minister at the time of the 1996 incident.
The two small planes that were shot down belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a group of exiled Cuban pilots based in Miami. All four men on board were killed.
The group said its mission was to search the Florida Straits for Cuban ships fleeing the island, and that they regularly fly close to the Cuban coast.
The Cuban government said the strike was a legitimate response to the planes entering Cuban airspace. Fidel Castro said the Cuban military had made “standing orders” to shoot down planes entering Cuban airspace. He said that Raul Castro did not issue a direct order to shoot down the planes.
The US condemned the attack and imposed sanctions, but did not pursue criminal charges against his brother Castro. The Department of Justice indicted three Cuban military officials in 2003 but they were not released.
The International Civil Aviation Organization later concluded that the shooting took place in international waters.
The opening of a criminal case against an American adversary like Castro will bring to mind the previous drug-trafficking case of imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Havana.
The Trump administration cited that case as the reason for the January 3 raid in Caracas by the US military in which Maduro was captured and brought to New York to face charges. He did not deny the crime.
Trump says Cuba’s communist government is corrupt, and in March he threatened that Cuba would be “next” after Venezuela.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday that any US military action against Cuba would lead to “bloodshed” and that the island does not represent a threat.
