Florida issues arrest warrant for Raul Castro over 1996 shootdown of civilian aircraft

By Maryam Ashalem de Andres

ISTANBUL (AA) - Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that authorities had secured a state arrest warrant for former Cuban President Raul Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that killed four men.

“Raul Castro ordered the premeditated, state-sanctioned murder of four Floridians in cold blood,” Uthmeier said in a post on US social media company X.

The warrant charges Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the Feb. 24, 1996, incident involving aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based Cuban exile group.

Uthmeier vowed that Florida would continue seeking accountability for Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Pena and Armando Alejandre Jr., the four men killed in the incident.

Florida’s Office of Statewide Prosecution and investigators secured the warrant after authorities reopened the case at Uthmeier’s direction last year, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

On Feb. 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two of three unarmed Cessna aircraft operated by the group over international waters, killing all four people aboard.

The aircraft had departed from Opa-Locka Airport in Miami-Dade County and were flying away from Cuba, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The warrant was signed by Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan of Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court, which ordered that Castro be held without bond.

The state-level action follows a federal indictment announced in May against Castro over the same incident. Federal charges include conspiracy to kill US nationals and destruction of aircraft.

The 1996 shootdown remains a source of tension between Washington and Havana. Cuba maintained that the aircraft had violated its airspace, while US authorities said they were flying over international waters.

Castro, 95, served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro.

Florida authorities said the investigation would continue as they seek to hold those responsible for the deaths accountable.

Mariam Ashalem De Andres