US indicts Raul Castro as fears of Cuba ‘invasion’ mount

The indictment, filed in federal court in Miami, charges Castro, 94, with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destruction of aircraft. The charges stem from a 1996 incident in which Cuban MiG fighters shot down two civilian planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, killing four people. The legal action follows increasingly aggressive rhetoric from the White House. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States would “not tolerate a rogue state harbouring hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just ninety miles from the American homeland”. The move has drawn parallels to the US drug-trafficking indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which the Trump administration cited as a justification for a military raid in Caracas that led to his capture. Trump threatened in March that Cuba “is next”, prompting Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to warn that any United States military action against the island would lead to a “bloodbath”. Castro was Cuba’s defence minister on Feb 24, 1996, when Cuban jets downed two Cessnas belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian group that searched for Cuban rafters and dropped anti-government leaflets. The group’s four members, including three American citizens, were killed. While Cuba argued the planes intruded on its airspace, the International Civil Aviation Organisation later concluded the shootdown occurred over international waters. In Miami, members of the large Cuban American community