He Department of Justice (DOJ) USA announced this Tuesday a call for tomorrow in Miami in which, according to US media, it is expected that he will present a criminal accusation against him former cuban president Raul Castro for the death of four pilots of the organization Brothers to the Rescue 30 years ago.
The conference at Freedom Tower (Freedom Tower), historical site for Cuban exiles in Miamiwill be chaired by the acting attorney general of USA, Todd Blanchewho could announce the indictment of Castroaccording to US media such as CBS News and the Miami Herald.
The call does not mention the accusation against the former president, who was then Minister of the Cuban Armed Forcesbut close sources have told these media that the DOJ will present the accusations at that conference, which will also be attended by the prosecutor of USA. for him Southern District of Florida, Jason A. Reding Quiñones.
Victims’ families accuse Castro of ordering to shoot down in 1996 the small planes in which four people of Cuban origin were traveling: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre and Mario Manuel de la Peñathe three American citizens, and Pablo Moralesa Cuban legal resident of the United States, as part of his work with Brothers to the Rescuewho helped rafters on the island.
The charges for the event that occurred on February 24, 1996 would be presented in the federal court of the Southern District of Floridawhere a grand jury must still endorse them.
While Cuban exiles cite a report from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of the UN that concluded that the attack occurred in international waters, Havana has maintained that the small planes threatened the island’s territory and that those involved were “terrorists.”
The accusation comes amid growing pressure from US President Donald Trump on Cuba, particularly after the capture of the Venezuelan ruler in Caracas in January. Nicolas Madurowho also faces criminal charges in the United States and is now imprisoned in New York.
Since then, Trump imposed a blockade oil tanker to the island, raised his threats of “take control” of the country and signed an executive order on May 1 to expand the sanctions, which since Monday added 11 senior political officials and cuban military.