The case centers on the deaths of four men aboard Brothers to the Rescue aircraft.
MIAMI, FL — U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges Wednesday against former Cuban President Raúl Castro and five Cuban military figures, accusing them of roles in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by the Miami exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
The superseding indictment marks a major legal escalation in a case that has shaped Cuban American politics for three decades. Prosecutors said Castro, now 94, was Cuba’s defense minister when fighter jets destroyed the aircraft over international waters on Feb. 24, 1996, killing Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales. An indictment is an allegation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty.
The Justice Department announced the charges at a Miami event tied to a ceremony honoring the victims. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said federal officials were seeking accountability after years of demands from relatives and members of South Florida’s exile community. “For 30 years, the families of these men have waited. The Miami community has waited. Our country has waited,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said. Prosecutors said Brothers to the Rescue, also known as Hermanos al Rescate, flew humanitarian missions across the Florida Straits to look for Cuban migrants in distress. The group also became known for flights that challenged the Cuban government, including missions that dropped pro-democracy leaflets over Cuba before the shootdown.
The indictment names Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez. Prosecutors said Cuban intelligence agents had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue in the early 1990s and passed flight information to Cuban officials. They alleged that three Brothers to the Rescue planes left Opa-locka Airport on Feb. 24, 1996, for a planned humanitarian flight south of the 24th parallel. Two Cessna planes, identified by tail numbers N2456S and N5485S, were shot down. A third plane escaped. Prosecutors said the aircraft were unarmed and outside Cuban territory when air-to-air missiles hit them. Cuban officials have long argued the flights posed a threat and violated warnings about Cuban airspace.
The charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder. Prosecutors said Castro and Perez-Perez face murder and aircraft destruction counts, while the broader group faces conspiracy allegations. Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, 65, is the only defendant known to be in U.S. custody. He is awaiting sentencing in a separate immigration case in Florida after prosecutors said he made false statements on an immigration document about military training and service. The other defendants are believed to be outside U.S. custody, and it remains unclear whether Castro will appear in a U.S. courtroom.
The case reaches back to one of the most tense moments in U.S.-Cuba relations after the Cold War. Brothers to the Rescue was founded by Cuban exiles and became a visible presence over the Florida Straits during waves of migration from the island. Its flights drew anger from Havana, especially after planes flew over Cuba and scattered leaflets. Prosecutors said Cuban military pilots trained before the February 1996 operation to locate, track and intercept slow-moving civilian aircraft near the Cuban coast. The indictment alleges Perez-Perez and Palacio Blanco took off from the San Antonio de los Baños airfield near Havana in separate jets, while other pilots were involved in the wider pursuit.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the indictment as political and accused the United States of distorting the history of the shootdown. He said Cuba had warned it would defend its airspace from what it considered dangerous incursions. Russia also criticized U.S. pressure on Cuba, with a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman saying Moscow would continue to support Havana. In Miami, relatives of the victims and Cuban American officials welcomed the charges as overdue. Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr., was killed, said the indictment came after years of asking investigators to pursue Castro. “It has been long overdue,” she said.
The legal path ahead is uncertain. If convicted on the most serious counts, defendants could face life in prison or the death penalty, though any sentence would be decided by a judge. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abbie D. Waxman and Michael E. Gilfarb are prosecuting the case, and the FBI’s Miami Field Office led the investigation. U.S. officials said an arrest warrant was issued for Castro, but they did not provide a clear timeline for bringing him or the other defendants before the court. The next known step is Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez’s pending sentencing in his separate immigration case.
The indictment leaves the central courtroom question unresolved: whether a former Cuban leader who remains in Cuba can be brought into U.S. custody. For now, the case stands as the most direct U.S. criminal action against Castro over the 1996 attack, with prosecutors saying the investigation remains tied to the four men killed and the families who have pressed for charges since the day the planes went down.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.