U.S. Indicts Cuba’s Castro for Massacre of American Citizens

It has happened. The memory and pain of several Cuban-American families in Florida may finally find justice starting this Wednesday, May 20. On that very day — when Cubans celebrate the founding of the Republic that preceded the socialist Revolution — a federal grand jury filed formal charges against Raúl Castro for a massacre that took place 30 years ago.

For years, the anti-Castro exile organization Brothers to the Rescue (HAR) flew small planes over the Florida Straits, searching for Cubans fleeing in small boats or homemade rafts, crafted from almost any floating material, and alerting the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue them.

However, on February 24, 1996, four of the eight HAR activists took off in three planes on a routine mission from Florida, unaware that two Soviet-built MiG fighter jets were taking off from the island with orders to massacre them.

In international airspace, air-to-air missiles tore apart two HAR Cessna 337s and four of their crew members — three of whom were U.S. citizens.

‘Many Unanswered Questions,’ Says a Survivor

Now, Armando Iglesias, one of the survivors of that day, applauds the filing of charges against Castro. In statements provided for this article, he expressed his belief that “many questions still remain unanswered.”

For him, “after 30 years, any effort aimed at establishing accountability for the downing of the HAR planes constitutes an important step in the search for truth and justice for the families of Carlos Costa (29), Mario de la Peña (24), Pablo Morales (29), and Armando Alejandre Jr. (45).”

The third plane — the only one to escape the massacre — was locked in the crosshairs of the MiG piloted by Castro regime pilot Luis Raúl González-Pardo. Iglesias, José Basulto, Sylvia Iriondo, and her husband Andrés were on board. Hidden among the few clouds that day, it entered U.S. airspace and landed at Opa-Locka.

During the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, one of the Castro-era pilots who participated in the operation that day — Lieutenant Colonel González-Pardo — entered the United States.

For Iriondo, this is “a slap in the face to the memory of the victims of the February 24 massacre and their families.” Furthermore, as a member of the Cuban-American community “who has experienced firsthand the criminal nature of the Castro tyranny, I am deeply concerned by the deficient vetting process that allowed González-Pardo to enter this country.”

In November 2025, the FBI arrested the former pilot. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida charged him with “fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents,” as well as making a false statement to a federal agency. These charges could carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi stated regarding the case: “This man’s past as a longtime military pilot in the service of the evil Castro regime — which has caused untold suffering to the Cuban people — should have taken center stage and featured prominently in his immigration file.”

A Key Piece: González-Pardo

Now, González-Pardo could become a key piece for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in the trial against the younger Castro brother. In fact, he is one of five co-defendants alongside the dictator, according to court documents made public.

González-Pardo’s testimony would be particularly useful for reconstructing how the military chain of command functioned, the orders in place regarding HAR, and for verifying the level of control Castro — then Cuba’s Minister of Defense when the massacre occurred — exercised over the Air Force.

Listed as co-defendants alongside these two are the Castro-era military officers Lorenzo Alberto Pérez-Pérez, Emilio José Palacio Blanco, José Fidel Gual Barzaga, and Raúl Simanca Cárdenas. Castro II, 94, became the “president” of Cuba in 2008 following the illness of his brother, Fidel Castro, who passed away in 2016. Around that time, President Barack Obama offered him a failed “thaw” in diplomatic relations. Today, however, Trump is bringing his name before the courts.

With him, America will initiate the same process it undertook with Nicolás Maduro: a judicial proceeding designed to exert further pressure on Havana — at a time when negotiations for political change appear to be making little headway — while the Castro regime pins its hopes on simply holding out until November and the midterm elections.

Will the Department of Justice “Madurará” (ripen, en español) judicially Raúl Castro through to the very end, just as it did with the Venezuelan socialist dictator?

In Florida this Wednesday, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche stated regarding the indictment: “President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple yet important principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you — no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and, in this case, no matter how much time has passed.”

With the filing of charges against the Antillean tyrant, the America First agenda has proven that it looks not only toward the future but also toward the injustices of the past.

AUTHOR

Yoe Suarez

Yoe Suárez is The Washington Stand’s international affairs correspondent. He is an exiled journalist, writer, and producer who investigated in Havana about torture, political police, gangs, government black lists, and cybersurveillance. A graduate of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, he was a CBN correspondent, and has written for outlets like The Hill and Newsweek. He has appeared on Vox, Univision, and Deutsche Welle as an analyst on Cuba, security, and U.S. foreign policy.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2026 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.