- The U.S. Justice Department has indicted former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on murder charges over the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
- Raúl Castro was Cuba's defense minister, holding the second-highest position in the country after his brother, Fidel Castro, when Cuban fighter planes shot down two of the group's light aircraft near Cuban airspace on February 24, 1996, resulting in the deaths of all four men aboard.
- Brothers to the Rescue, founded by José Basulto, was a Miami-based organization established to aid Cuban refugees in the Florida straits, often flying into Cuban airspace.
- The group began operating in 1980 during the unexpected emigration of 125,000 Cubans to the US. It helped Cuban refugees in boats by dropping supplies from small planes and alerting the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Castro’s indictment comes as the Trump administration has been applying a pressure campaign to push for a regime change in Cuba, where Castro's communists have been in charge since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
IN FULL
Former Cuban President Raul Castro indicted for murder by US
