Cuban José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, remains “skeptical” about the charges against the former president of the island.
14ymedio, Madrid, May 15, 2026 — The United States is preparing a formal indictment against former president Raúl Castro for the 1996 downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes, according to sources cited by the Miami Herald.
The CBS had already reported on Thursday that the Justice Department was considering filing charges against Fidel Castro’s younger brother in that case, one of the most tense episodes in the relationship between Washington and Havana in recent decades.
According to the Miami Herald, the indictment will be announced during an event at the Freedom Tower in Miami commemorating Cuban Independence Day, following approval by a grand jury. The event will also include a tribute to the four victims of the incident.
Asked about those reports on Friday while returning from China aboard Air Force One, US President Donald Trump declined to comment, saying he did not want to make a statement.
So far, the US government has not officially confirmed the possible indictment.
The case dates back to February 1996, when Brothers to the Rescue aircraft were shot down by Cuban forces in an incident that killed four people and led to a serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Donald Trump declined to comment, saying he did not want to make any remarks.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis reacted favorably to the information published by CBS and wrote on the X network: “Go ahead, it was about time.”
The possibility of bringing charges against Raúl Castro arises amid the hardening of Washington’s policy towards Cuba since Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.
Raúl Castro, 94, formally stepped down as head of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2021, although he is still considered an influential figure within the Cuban political apparatus.
His grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, alias El Cangrejo [the Crab], has been mentioned in recent contacts between representatives of both countries.
The information about the possible indictment comes a day after the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Ratcliffe , met in Havana with Cuban leaders, including Castro’s grandson, according to reports divulged about the meeting.
According to these versions, Ratcliffe conveyed Washington’s conditions for handling relations with Cuba, amid pressure exerted by the United States on the island, which includes an oil embargo imposed since last January.
For his part, Cuban José Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, remains “skeptical” about achieving justice and change on the Island despite reports about the indictment of Castro.
“I am confident that justice will be achieved, a justice that is long overdue, because, I repeat, they have let so much time pass.”
“I remain skeptical until the point where action is taken, and the action to be taken is the criminal prosecution of Raúl Castro, who gave the orders, and of all those who cooperated with Raúl Castro in the assassination,” Basulto said in an interview with EFE in Miami.
The dissident, one of the leaders of the exile community in the US, pointed out that “justice delayed is justice denied” in response to reports that the Administration of Donald Trump is preparing a formal indictment against Castro, then Minister of the Armed Forces of Cuba, for shooting down Brothers to the Rescue planes on February 24, 1996.
Basulto, who founded the organization to help rafters fleeing the island, survived the attack, but has since sought justice for the deaths of American pilots Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, and Armando Alejandre Jr., and legal resident Pablo Morales, all of Cuban origin.
“I trust that justice will be achieved, a long-awaited justice, because, I repeat, they have let so much time pass: delegated justice, denied justice. And what can I say? I believe this should have happened a long time ago,” the founder of Brothers to the Rescue insisted.
The Cuban leader responds that “everything is possible” amid the expectation that Castro will face the same fate as the deposed Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro, captured by the United States on January 3 in Caracas following a formal accusation by the Department of Justice.
“Anything is possible, but you’d have to ask the administration of Mr. Trump, who is the one who makes these decisions. I hope the United States decides to take action against this vile act against the pilots,” Basulto replied from his home.
“Anything is possible, but you’d have to ask the administration of Mr. Trump, who is the one who makes these decisions.”
The 85-year-old activist doubts the productivity of the negotiations between Washington and Havana, which include Raúl Castro’s grandson, opining that change would only occur with a “unilateral action” by the United States against the Cuban government.
Meanwhile, the indictment against Raúl Castro must be approved by a grand jury, CBS notes, framing the information in any case within a context of maximum pressure from the US, with an oil blockade that has Cuba on the verge of energy collapse, surviving thanks to the import permit for private entities issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department.
Because of the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened a statewide criminal investigation last March against Raúl Castro, now 94 and then Minister of the Armed Forces of Cuba, who was identified as responsible for ordering the attack.
That day, two twin-engine Cessnas flying over the Florida Straits were shot down by Cuban Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets. Three Americans and one Florida resident, all of Cuban origin, died: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. The tragedy triggered a diplomatic crisis between Washington and Havana and led, weeks later, to the tightening of the embargo with the passage of the Helms-Burton Act.
Brothers to the Rescue was a non-profit organization founded in Miami in the early 1990s. Its members patrolled international waters in search of Cuban rafters attempting to flee the island. Havana accused them of violating its airspace and carrying out political provocations. Washington always maintained that the downed flights were in international airspace, and this was confirmed by reports from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States.
The reopening of the case, however, faces legal and practical obstacles.
Subsequent investigations revealed that at least two Cuban agents infiltrated into Brothers to the Rescue provided detailed information about flight routes and schedules to the Cuban government, facilitating the military operation. In 2003, a U.S. federal court indicted a Cuban general and two fighter pilots for the downing. However, no formal charges were ever filed against the Castro brothers.
The 1996 downing marked a turning point in bilateral relations and solidified the perception that the Cuban government was prepared to use lethal force against civilians in the context of the migration conflict.
he reopening of the case, however, faces legal and practical obstacles. Raúl Castro does not reside in the United States, and although an old bilateral extradition treaty exists, it has not been enforced since 1959.
In a social media post Thursday night, responding to the information revealed by CBS, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote: “Let ‘er rip, it’s been a long time coming!”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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