A state warrant in Florida

Florida's attorney general, James Uthmeier, announced on Monday, 19 October, that a state arrest warrant had been issued for Raúl Castro, Cuba's former president. The warrant accuses Castro of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the downing of two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based organisation of Cuban exiles, on 24 February 1996. Four people died in that attack, three of them US citizens. A Miami judge signed the warrant on Friday, 16 October. The state's case rests in large part on a federal indictment brought in May that included murder and destruction of an aircraft. Florida reopened its investigation in March, three decades after the attack, and Castro is now 95 years old.

What investigators allege

The warrant describes Castro as the person making the final decisions in the chain of command that authorised the shootdown. Investigators also say Cuban spies operating in Florida gathered information on the group's flights and passed it to Havana, data they say could have facilitated the shootdown. Brothers to the Rescue searched the sea for Cubans trying to reach Florida by boat, and according to the court filings the two aircraft were brought down by Cuban fighter jets over international waters. A third aircraft carrying the group's leader, José Basulto, narrowly escaped. At the time of the attack Castro was serving as minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), the post he held as Cuba's defence chief.

Havana's position and the location dispute

Cuba's government argued at the time that the planes were hit while over Cuban territorial waters. US authorities and the United Nations maintain that the incident took place in international waters, and that difference over location has never been settled. Uthmeier said the state would not stop seeking accountability for the deaths. Jason Reding Quiñones, the federal prosecutor for the southern district of Florida, said the federal government stands with Florida in pursuing justice for the four people killed in the downing. The state warrant is the second legal step against Castro this year, following the federal indictment in May.

Wider US pressure on Havana

The new charge comes amid rising tension between Havana and Washington. The US has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba since January, and Venezuela stopped sending oil to the island after a US military operation there captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro. Donald Trump described Cuba as a failed state in his speech to the UN General Assembly in late September and said he expected Cuba to make a deal, adding that military intervention would not be needed. El Mundo links the case to new measures against figures tied to the Cuban government and tighter sanctions, at a time of deep economic crisis on the island.