{"id":20715,"date":"2026-05-20T19:15:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/raul-castros-us-indictment-political-move-with-no-legal-basis-says-cuban-president\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T19:15:45","slug":"raul-castros-us-indictment-political-move-with-no-legal-basis-says-cuban-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/raul-castros-us-indictment-political-move-with-no-legal-basis-says-cuban-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Ra\u00fal Castro&#8217;s US indictment \u2018political move with no legal basis\u2019, says Cuban president"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"storyParagraphFigure\" readability=\"36\">\n<p class=\"content\">Cuban President Miguel D&iacute;az-Canel reacted to the US indictment of his predecessor, Ra&uacute;l Castro, over the 1996 downing of two planes, calling it a &ldquo;political move with no legal basis.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"artImage leadImage\">\n<div class=\" \"><picture class=\"leadImageClass\"><source media=\"(min-width:768px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/ht-img\/img\/2026\/05\/20\/550x309\/cuban_president_raul_castro_indictment_1779303109017_1779303119610_dab0f946-9c1c-49b0-ac62-3955c1bd1f10.jpg\" alt=\"The US Department of Justice has sought to unseal the indictment against Ra&uacute;l Castro and five other people in a filing in a federal court in Florida. (X\/AFP)\"><\/source><\/picture><\/div><figcaption class>The US Department of Justice has sought to unseal the indictment against Ra&uacute;l Castro and five other people in a filing in a federal court in Florida. (X\/AFP)<span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"content \">In a post X, D&iacute;az-Canel said that the charges aim to &ldquo;add to the file they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">The US&rsquo;s move to charge former Cuban president Ra&uacute;l Castro with murder has further escalated the tensions between the two countries, with the Trump administration trying to force change in Havana after nearly seven decades of communist rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><strong>ALSO READ | <\/strong><strong>Where is Raul Castro now? Ex-Cuba president&rsquo;s current whereabouts in focus after DOJ indictment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Castro&rsquo;s indictment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<div class=\"content \" readability=\"33\">\n<h2>Ra&uacute;l Castro&rsquo;s US murder indictment<\/h2>\n<p>The charges relate to the February 1996 downing by Cuba of two civilian aircraft run by the Florida-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/12-weeks-jail-for-school-it-support-technician-who-took-upskirt-videos-of-teachers\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">&lt;div&gt;12 weeks' jail for school IT support technician who took upskirt videos of teachers&lt;\/div&gt;<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"content \">The Cessnas were reportedly shot down outside the Cuban airspace, killing four people, according to an International Civil Aviation Organisation investigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">The incident, which occurred when Castro was a defense minister, quickly snowballed into a highly sensitive diplomatic flashpoint between Cuba and the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \"><strong>ALSO READ | <\/strong><strong>Raul Castro indicted: Who were the four men killed in the 1996 Cuba plane shootdown? All on the murder charge<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">&ldquo;For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens,&rdquo; Blanche said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Blanche further told reporters that the US expects Castro to appear in the country &ldquo;by his own will or by another way&rdquo; after being indicted on murder charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Further, the US Department of Justice has sought to unseal the indictment against Ra&uacute;l Castro and five other people in a filing in a federal court in Florida.<\/p>\n<div class=\"internal-linking-related-contents\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/migrant-acquitted-in-first-trial-over-us-border-military-zones\/\" class=\"template-1\"><span class=\"cta\">News :<\/span><span class=\"postTitle\">Migrant acquitted in first trial over US border military zones<\/span><\/a><\/div><p class=\"content \"><strong>ALSO READ | <\/strong><strong>Ra&uacute;l Castro: 5 things to know as US indicts former Cuban President, with Trump eyeing to oust regime<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Ra&uacute;l Castro, who turns 95 next month, succeeded his brother Fidel as Cuba&rsquo;s President in 2008 and as head of the Communist Party in 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Miguel D&iacute;az-Canel took over the presidency in 2018 and as party chief in 2021. Though Castro no longer plays a formal role in the government, he is believed to retain significant influence within the inner circle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content \">Castro pursued economic reforms and was a central player in the brief reset in ties with the US under President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><sub><\/sub><\/p>\n<div>Ra&uacute;l Castro&rsquo;s US indictment &lsquo;political move with no legal basis&rsquo;, says Cuban president<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuban President Miguel D&iacute;az-Canel reacted to the US indictment of his predecessor, Ra&uacute;l Castro, over the 1996 downing of two planes, calling it a &ldquo;political move with no legal basis.&rdquo; The US Department of Justice has sought to unseal the indictment against Ra&uacute;l Castro and five other people in a filing in a federal court&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-wrap\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/raul-castros-us-indictment-political-move-with-no-legal-basis-says-cuban-president\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Ra\u00fal Castro&#8217;s US indictment \u2018political move with no legal basis\u2019, says Cuban president&rdquo;<\/span> &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}