Florida issues arrest warrant for Cuban leader Raul Castro

The state-level announcement mirrors a federal indictment from May as the US steps up pressure on the Cuban government.

US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quinones announces charges against former Cuban leader Raul Castro on October 19 in Miami, Florida [Joe Raedle/AFP]

Florida, in the southeastern United States, has issued an arrest warrant for 95-year-old former Cuban leader Raul Castro .

The move comes as US authorities step up pressure on the government in Havana.

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State Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Monday that the warrant was based on criminal charges over Castro’s alleged role in ordering two unarmed aircraft to be shot down in 1996 .

The aircraft were affiliated with Brothers to the Rescue, a Florida-based group that helps Cubans fleeing the country. Four people were killed in the attack.

Castro faces state-level charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in Florida.

“Raul Castro ordered the murder of four Floridians in cold blood, and Florida will never stop pursuing accountability for that communist conspiracy,” Uthmeier wrote in a news release.

He said the arrest warrant was necessary accountability for the lives lost. “Thirty years later, we are still fighting for justice for Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Pena, and Armando Alejandre Jr.”

The decision to shoot down the two small twin-engine planes has been the subject of renewed controversy over the last year, as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to oust Cuba’s communist leaders.

The attack took place on February 24, 1996. US authorities say the planes were flying over international waters and received no warning before they were shot down.

Cuban officials, meanwhile, have argued that previous Brothers to the Rescue flights had breached the country’s airspace, despite warnings to stay away.

Castro, now 95 years old, was Cuba’s defence minister at the time of the attack. A key figure in the Communist Party of Cuba, he later became president of the island in 2008, replacing his brother, the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

Though he retired from the presidency in 2018, Raul Castro and his family remain powerful figures in Cuba’s government.

Since the start of the year, the Trump administration has signalled it would like to see regime change in Cuba.

To trigger such change, the administration has tightened US restrictions on the island, including by imposing a de facto energy blockade in January.

By threatening steep tariffs against any country that supplies Cuba with oil, the US has effectively barred fuel exports to the country, according to experts.

That, in turn, has caused deteriorating conditions on the island and strained the country’s already meagre power system, which relies heavily on fossil fuels. Only 40 percent of Cuba’s oil is produced domestically.

Additional sanctions have been placed on Cuba’s economy, limiting its state-run industries.

But in May, the Trump administration unveiled a superseding indictment also targeting Raul Castro for the 1996 plane downings.

It charges Castro with federal crimes including conspiracy to kill US nationals, destroying aircraft and four counts of murder.

The Trump administration issued a statement in support of Florida’s actions against Castro on Monday.

“We’re committed to pursuing every lawful, prosecutable avenue to bring accountability, including parallel federal and state prosecutions,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quinones said.

“Our historic federal indictment laid the groundwork, and James [Uthmeier] and his team have now taken the important step of bringing charges under Florida law.”

Trump has previously used indictments to justify military operations targeting government leaders that are at odds with the US, including former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro .

州级公告与五月份联邦政府的起诉书相呼应，美国正加大对古巴政府的压力。

10月19日，美国佛罗里达州南区检察官杰森·雷丁·奎诺内斯在佛罗里达州迈阿密宣布对古巴前领导人劳尔·卡斯特罗提起诉讼。[乔·雷德尔/法新社]

美国东南部佛罗里达州已对95岁的古巴前领导人劳尔·卡斯特罗发出逮捕令。

此举正值美国当局加大对哈瓦那政府施压之际。

马可·卢比奥表示，美国对与古巴就政府更迭进行谈判持开放态度，这是三份名单中的第一份。

古巴谴责美国“集体惩罚”，特朗普预测将达成协议（共3条，此为第2条）

古巴在美国石油封锁下继续推进可再生能源计划（共3项，此为第3项）

纽约州总检察长詹姆斯·乌斯迈尔周一表示，逮捕令是基于对卡斯特罗涉嫌下令在 1996 年击落两架非武装飞机的刑事指控。

这些飞机隶属于总部位于佛罗里达州的“兄弟救援会”（Brothers to the Rescue），该组织致力于帮助逃离古巴的古巴人。袭击造成四人死亡。

卡斯特罗面临佛罗里达州一级谋杀罪的共谋指控。

“劳尔·卡斯特罗下令冷血谋杀了四名佛罗里达州居民，佛罗里达州将永远不会停止追究这一共产主义阴谋的责任，”乌斯迈尔在一份新闻稿中写道。

他说，逮捕令是对逝去生命追究责任的必要措施。“三十年过去了，我们仍在为卡洛斯·科斯塔、巴勃罗·莫拉莱斯、马里奥·德拉佩纳和阿曼多·亚历杭德雷二世争取正义。”

过去一年来，随着共和党总统唐纳德·特朗普寻求推翻古巴共产党领导人，击落这两架小型双引擎飞机的决定再次引发争议。

袭击发生在1996年2月24日。美国当局称，飞机当时正在国际水域上空飞行，在被击落前没有收到任何警告。

与此同时，古巴官员辩称，此前“兄弟救援”航班侵犯了该国领空，尽管此前已发出警告要求远离。

现年95岁的卡斯特罗在袭击发生时担任古巴国防部长。作为古巴共产党的重要人物，他后来于2008年接替其兄长、已故革命领袖菲德尔·卡斯特罗，成为古巴总统。

尽管劳尔·卡斯特罗于 2018 年卸任总统职务，但他和他的家人仍然是古巴政府中的强大人物。

今年年初以来，特朗普政府就已表示希望看到古巴政权更迭。

为了促成这种改变，美国政府加强了对该岛的限制，包括在1月份实施了事实上的能源封锁。

专家表示，美国威胁对任何向古巴供应石油的国家征收高额关税，实际上已经禁止了对古巴的燃料出口。

反过来，这又导致岛上状况恶化，并加剧了该国本已捉襟见肘、严重依赖化石燃料的电力系统的压力。古巴只有40%的石油产自国内。

对古巴经济实施了更多制裁，限制了其国有产业的发展。

但今年 5 月，特朗普政府公布了一份补充起诉书，将劳尔·卡斯特罗也列入 1996 年飞机坠毁事件的被告名单。

起诉书指控卡斯特罗犯有联邦罪行，包括密谋杀害美国国民、摧毁飞机和四项谋杀罪。

周一，特朗​​普政府发表声明，支持佛罗里达州对卡斯特罗采取的行动。

“我们致力于通过一切合法、可起诉的途径追究责任，包括同时提起联邦和州级诉讼，”美国检察官杰森·雷丁·奎诺内斯说。

“我们具有历史意义的联邦起诉奠定了基础，詹姆斯·乌斯迈尔和他的团队现在已经迈出了重要一步，根据佛罗里达州法律提出了指控。”

特朗普此前曾利用起诉书为针对与美国意见相左的政府领导人的军事行动辩护，其中包括委内瑞拉前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗。