Florida Issues Arrest Warrant for Raúl Castro

A Florida judge signed an arrest warrant for former Cuban President Raúl Castro for his alleged involvement in the 1996 shootdown of two small planes that killed four people.

The planes belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a Florida-based exile organization founded by José Basulto, a veteran of the botched Bay of Pigs invasion and CIA collaborator with a history of violent actions against Cuba.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier claimed the men killed “were in unarmed civilian aircraft going to save people.”

Declassified U.S. records document the group’s pattern of violations of Cuban airspace, including flights dropping anti-government leaflets over Havana. U.S. officials repeatedly warned the incursions could provoke an armed response.

The warrant is the latest escalation in the broader U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign against Cuba, potentially providing a new pretext for military intervention or regime change.

Read more about the shootdown and the U.S. double standard on terrorism.