The Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro for his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes over international waters, a move that would mark one of the most aggressive legal actions the United States has ever taken against a former head of state.

Three people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that the potential charges stem from the destruction of two Cessna aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based humanitarian group that patrolled waters near Cuba searching for rafts carrying people fleeing the communist island. A Cuban MiG-29 fighter jet shot both planes out of the sky in February 1996, killing all four people on board.

The reported indictment would need grand jury approval before it could be issued. It remains unclear exactly what charges Castro could face. But the legal push comes amid a sweeping Trump administration pressure campaign against Havana that has combined economic sanctions, tariff threats, and sharp rhetoric about the future of Cuba's communist government.

A 30-year-old atrocity, revisited

The 1996 incident drew immediate international condemnation. The Organization of American States determined that the planes were flying outside Cuban airspace when they were destroyed and found that Cuba shot them down without warning or justifiable purpose, as CBS News reported and Breitbart noted. The OAS report alleged Cuba violated international law.

Cuban authorities at the time claimed the planes were violating Cuban airspace and carrying out a sabotage operation. Fidel Castro, Cuba's late dictator, defiantly claimed responsibility for the shootdown, telling CBS he had issued "general orders" to keep unauthorized aircraft from encroaching on Cuban airspace.

President Bill Clinton condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms." The United States eventually convicted one person of conspiracy to murder over the four deaths and sentenced him to life in prison. That man was sent back to Cuba in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap.

Raúl Castro was not president at the time of the shootdown, but he served as secretary of Cuba's armed forces for decades, including during the 1996 incident. He later succeeded his brother Fidel as president from 2008 to 2018 and led Cuba's communist party from 2011 to 2021.

A special working group in Miami

The legal groundwork for the potential indictment has been building for months. The U.S. Attorney in Miami created a special working group in March to build cases against top Cuban officials, the Washington Times reported. One source told the AP that the potential indictment is directly connected to Castro's alleged role in the 1996 shootdown.

An indictment of a former head of state, even one who no longer holds formal power, would dramatically escalate tensions between Washington and Havana. It would also send a pointed message to Cuba's current leadership about the consequences of harboring those responsible for attacks on civilians.

The administration has already been broadening Cuba sanctions and empowering the Treasury Department to penalize foreign banks tied to Havana, tightening the economic vise on the island regime.

Trump's escalating pressure on Havana

The reported indictment fits within a broader pattern. President Trump has steadily ratcheted up pressure on Cuba through a combination of economic threats, diplomatic confrontation, and blunt public statements about the island's future.

In February, Trump told reporters the United States could pursue a "friendly takeover" of Cuba. By May, speaking at the Forum Club of Palm Beaches in Florida, he went further:

"We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba."

He added that the U.S. would be "taking over" Cuba "almost immediately." Trump also acknowledged the island's dire condition, telling reporters aboard Air Force One:

"But they need help, as you know, and you talk about a declining country, they are really a nation or a country in decline, so we're going to see."

At the Palm Beaches event, Trump signaled his priorities plainly: "Cuba's got problems. We'll finish one first. I like to finish a job."

The administration has backed the rhetoric with action. Trump threatened to levy tariffs on countries sending oil to Cuba, a move aimed at choking off the regime's energy lifeline. His message to Latin American leaders has been direct: Cuba's communist regime is running out of time.

CIA director meets Castro's grandson

On Thursday, one day before CBS first reported the possible indictment, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of the former Cuban president, to discuss the situation between the United States and Cuba. A CIA official said Ratcliffe delivered a personal message from Trump.

The message stated that the United States was "prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes." The official added that Cuba must "no longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere."

That language carries particular weight given the broader regional context. Trump's arrest and removal of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in January heightened tensions across the Caribbean and Latin America. The administration has made clear it views Cuba and Venezuela as linked problems, with Cuba receiving its own version of the message delivered to Caracas.

Richard Feinberg, a Latin America policy analyst, offered a note of caution about the limits of the pressure campaign. "There's no easy Venezuela copy," Feinberg said. "There's no clear line of succession and it's hard to imagine regime change without U.S. boots on the ground."

What comes next

The New York Post reported that any indictment would need grand jury approval before it could be issued. The exact charges Castro could face remain unclear, and the practical question of enforcement, indicting a 94-year-old man living in a hostile foreign country, looms large.

But the legal and symbolic dimensions are separate matters. An indictment would formally declare, on behalf of the United States government, that the man who ran Cuba's military apparatus bears criminal responsibility for the murder of four civilians in international airspace. It would place Castro's name alongside the likes of drug lords and terrorist leaders who have faced U.S. charges while living abroad.

The political battle over Cuba policy in Washington remains fierce. Some Democrats have faced sharp criticism for working to ease pressure on Havana even as the administration pushes for accountability.

For the families of the four Brothers to the Rescue members killed in 1996, the indictment, if it comes, would represent something they have waited three decades to see: the United States naming the man they hold responsible.

Whether or not Raúl Castro ever sees the inside of a courtroom, the message from Washington is unmistakable. Thirty years is a long time. But for some crimes, the statute of limitations is measured in political will, and this administration appears to have found it.