Why is the U.S. Indicting Raúl Castro 30 Years After the Fact?

"Why is the U.S. going after Raúl Castro for something that happened 30 years ago?" asked Yohan Rodríguez, journalist with Belly of the Beast.

"I cannot explain or justify why now as opposed to two decades ago or 30 years ago when it happened," said General Todd Blanche, U.S. Acting Attorney General.

"Not even the U.S. Acting Attorney General can explain why. So, was this ever really about justice?" Rodríguez said.

"In 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two aircraft operated by a group in Miami called Brothers to the Rescue. Four men died," the journalist continued.

"But the shoot-down didn't come out of the blue," he added.

"Brothers to the Rescue began with humanitarian missions: To search for Cuban rafters in the Florida Straits. But by the mid-90s, its planes were repeatedly entering Cuban airspace and dropping leaflets over Havana, calling for people to overthrow the government," Rodríguez said.

"The group's leader was José Basulto, a Bay of Pigs veteran and CIA collaborator. Basulto said the U.S. trained him to be a terrorist," the journalist said.

"By the way, who trained us to kill were the United States," said José Basulto, Brothers to the Rescue leader, in archival footage.

"He once fired a cannon from a boat at a hotel in Havana. Basulto said he was no longer violent. But in 1995, he said the flights were meant to provoke a 'confrontation,'" Rodríguez said.

"We inform you that the area north of Havana is under active military control, and you are putting yourself at risk if you cross south of the 24th parallel north," Cuban authorities warned in archival audio.

"We're aware that we're in danger every time we cross into the area south of the 24th parallel north, but we are willing to do so," Basulto replied in the same archival recording.

"Cuba repeatedly told the U.S. the flights were illegal and dangerous. Havana tried every way possible to warn the U.S.: diplomatic notes, military briefings, intermediaries and back-channel contacts," Rodríguez said.

"U.S. officials knew the Cubans might shoot down the planes if they kept entering Cuban airspace. But they did nothing to stop Basulto," the journalist continued.

"Since then, hardliners in Miami and Washington have used the shoot-down for political ends," he said.

"First, they used it to pass the Helms–Burton Act, which made the embargo law and extended its extraterritorial reach," Rodríguez said.

"Then, they used it to prosecute Gerardo Hernández, a member of the Cuban Five. The Cuban Five were operatives sent undercover to South Florida to monitor terrorist organizations," the journalist said.

"Instead of arresting the terrorists, the FBI arrested the men trying to stop them. There was no evidence Hernández had anything to do with the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue planes. He was convicted anyway," Rodríguez said.

"Now, U.S. prosecutors are using the case again, this time to go after Raúl Castro," he added.

"If the Justice Department wants to pursue justice for murders in the Caribbean, it might consider indicting... Someone else," Rodríguez said.

"Since last September, the Trump administration has bombed 61 boats and killed more than 200 people," the journalist said.

"The case against Raúl Castro is so obviously a pretext for regime change even major media outlets aren't pretending otherwise," Rodríguez said.

"Regime change?" a congressman asked.

"Yes. I think we would love to see the regime there change," said Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, in archival footage before Congress.

"Cuba is ready to fall," said Donald Trump, President of the United States, in archival footage.

"Sound familiar? Far-fetched criminal charges used as a pretext for an illegal military attack. Different country. Same playbook," Rodríguez concluded.