The United States has unsealed a superseding indictment charging former Cuban leader Raul Castro and five alleged co-conspirators in connection with the 1996 shoot-down of two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian organization.
The announcement was made Wednesday by the United States Department of Justice, which said the defendants are accused of participating in the Feb. 24, 1996 attack that killed four men aboard two unarmed planes flying over international waters.
Those killed were identified as Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.
According to prosecutors, Cuban military fighter jets operating under a chain of command allegedly overseen by Castro fired air-to-air missiles at two civilian Cessna aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, also known as Hermanos al Rescate. Authorities allege the planes were flying outside Cuban territory when they were destroyed.
The indictment also names Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez as co-defendants.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche described the charges as part of a decades-long effort to secure accountability for the killings.
“Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable for the murders of four brave Americans,” Blanche said in a statement released by the Justice Department.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the investigation had remained active for nearly 30 years and called the indictment “a major step toward accountability.”
Brothers to the Rescue was a Miami-based organization that conducted humanitarian flights over the Florida Straits searching for Cuban migrants in distress. Prosecutors allege Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated the organization in the early 1990s and relayed information about its flight operations to the Cuban government before the attack.
According to the indictment, Cuban military pilots conducted training exercises in the weeks leading up to the incident to intercept slow-moving civilian aircraft. On the day of the attack, three Brothers to the Rescue planes departed from Opa-locka Airport in South Florida for what prosecutors described as a humanitarian mission south of the 24th parallel.
Authorities said two aircraft — tail numbers N2456S and N5485S — were allegedly shot down in international airspace, killing all four men aboard.
The superseding indictment charges conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.
If convicted, the defendants could face maximum penalties ranging from life imprisonment to the death penalty on the murder and conspiracy charges, according to the Justice Department.
Federal authorities also confirmed that Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, 65, of Havana, is currently in U.S. custody pending sentencing in a separate immigration-related case in the Middle District of Florida.
The announcement coincided with a ceremony at the Freedom Tower in Miami honoring the victims of the attack. Officials participating included Blanche, FBI representatives, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
Prosecutors emphasized that an indictment is only an allegation and that all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
