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The Department of Justice on Wednesday announced murder charges against former Cuban President and longtime Defense Minister Raúl Castro, 94.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated during a press conference in Miami on Wednesday that a federal grand jury charged Castro and five co-defendants with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder, in connection with a 1996 incident where Cuban jets shot down humanitarian flights of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

Elected officials in Florida’s Cuban American communities on Wednesday praised the Justice department and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Raúl Castro may be 94 years old, but justice has no expiration date,” Florida state Rep. Juan Porras told the Daily Signal. “The United States is moving to indict him for crimes that tore families apart, just like mine.”

Porras added that the current administration “is doing what no administration before had the courage to do,” calling the indictment “the first step toward a free Cuba.”

Cuban American and Vice-Mayor of West Miami Ivan Chavez Jr. added that the charges carry deep significance for Cuban Americans.

“As vice mayor of the City of West Miami and as a proud Cuban American, this indictment carries tremendous significance for our community,” he told the Daily Signal. “It sends a clear message that America, under President Donald Trump and West Miami’s own hometown hero, Secretary Marco Rubio, will no longer tolerate or appease the brutal communist Castro regime.”

He said the case is personal for many Cuban exiles.

“For many in Miami’s Cuban exile community, this is deeply personal,” he said. “It is a reminder of the countless lives destroyed by the dictatorship and of the innocent heroes of Brothers to the Rescue who were murdered for standing up for freedom and human dignity.”

He added that the volunteers’ sacrifice “will never be forgotten” and described the indictment as a “long-overdue step toward justice, accountability, and ultimately a free Cuba.”

Orlando Cicilia, a Cuban American community advocate and president of National Victory Strategies, echoed those remarks.

“This indictment brings renewed attention to the many atrocities committed by the Castro regime over the past 67 years,” Cicilia told the Daily Signal. “It marks another step toward justice for the families whose loved ones were murdered 30 years ago.”

Cicilia said the charges highlight the broader legacy of repression under the Cuban government, pointing to decades of political imprisonment, censorship, and economic hardship.

“For many Cuban families, both on the island and in exile, this is about more than the past,” he said. “It is about truth, justice, and the hope that the Cuban people may one day live in freedom.”

Miguel Granda, president of the Miami Young Republicans and a candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, called the indictment a “long-overdue moment of accountability.”

“For decades, his regime has inflicted profound suffering on the Cuban people and spread authoritarian governance across Latin America,” Granda told the Daily Signal. “This is a historic milestone for Cubans, Cuban Americans, and all who believe in freedom in the region.”

Granda added that the United States “must remain steadfast in holding such regimes to account.”

The indictment follows earlier federal charges brought by a New York grand jury against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for narcotrafficking.

“It’s a step in the right direction and helps expose the Cuban regime,” Cicilia said.

Reuters reported Wednesday morning that Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said that “despite the (U.S.) embargo, sanctions, and threats of the use of force, Cuba continues on a path of sovereignty toward its socialist development.”

The Justice Department announced the unsealed charges on May 20, formerly Cuban Independence Day, as part of a ceremony at Miami’s Freedom Tower, a symbol for Cuban Americans who left the communist country. The tower is referred to as “the Ellis Island of the South.”

This story is developing and may be updated.

AUTHOR

Pedro Rodriguez

Pedro Boccalato Rodriguez-Aparicio is a journalism fellow at the Daily Signal. Follow on X pedrobrodrigue7.

RELATED ARTICLE: Cuba’s Freedom Is an ‘America First’ Cause

New York City’s Guardian Angels will resume patrolling the city’s subway system after a Guatemalan illegal immigrant allegedly burned a homeless straphanger alive, killing her, on a Brooklyn subway car Dec. 22.

Curtis Sliwa, head of the all-volunteer organization, spoke at the Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island station in Brooklyn where the woman was killed and where the group’s patrol would start, the Post reported.

Three-person patrols would now resume walking through the subway cars, “which is something the police no longer do,” Sliwa said. He reportedly said “hundreds of citizens” had requested the organization’s return as “the subways are out of control.”

Guardian Angels will re-appear on subways again in response to sky-high crime pic.twitter.com/53lynsOvc6

— New York Post (@nypost) December 29, 2024

The currently 150-strong group last patrolled subway trains during anti-Asian hate attacks in 2020.

Guatemalan illegal immigrant Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, 33, faces first- and second-degree murder charges for allegedly burning the still-unidentified woman to death and could be jailed for life without parole if found guilty. Sliwa rued the lack of potentially life-saving intervention for the victim.

In a separate video Sliwa shared, he said the New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers started patrolling the subway cars back in 1979 but now are limited to the platforms and turnstiles amid personnel shortage, resulting in a security void. He added that dehydration often made homeless persons prone to hallucination.

“We are the people’s patrol,” he said.

“We’re going to have to increase our numbers, increase the training and increase our presence as we did back in 1979,” Sliwa said.

Sliwa also slammed the city’s criminal justice system.

“Notice there are no mental health workers, you know, crisis interven[tion] — they have all these fancy names — I’ve never seen them,” he said. “And we spent millions of dollars, I might add.”

The Guardian Angels will conduct welfare checks and “can have a calming effect” on emotionally disturbed persons — as some of such persons know the group, Sliwa said. The group would also work with conductors to alert the police.

Citizens would not intervene in such instances “because, unfortunately, the Daniel Penny effect has frozen them,” Sliwa added. “I’ve seen grown men who normally might have gotten involved — they’re just not getting involved anymore.”

“And we’re here to say, ‘You see something, you say something.’ You gotta do something,” he said.

Democratic former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio inaugurated a task force in 2014 to see that “where appropriate,” suspects with mental health issues do not go on to face criminal justice, or are treated outside jails if they do get charged with crimes, or can receive therapeutic rather than punitive treatment if they are jailed, among other proposed steps, a 2014 action plan report revealed. De Blasio’s council committed $130 million over four years to the project.

The City Council under Democratic Mayor Eric Adams called for $8.9 million to be added to the amount budgeted for mental health courts in the city’s 2025 fiscal year budget to prevent the city’s jails from becoming mental asylums amid the city’s struggle with recidivism.

Adams and NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper expressed frustration early March with recidivist crimes in the city’s subway system and the apparent failures of prosecutors and judges who themselves reportedly were hamstrung by state legislation. New York State’s 2019 bail reform also remains a fraught subject.

The Guardian Angels have had a rocky relationship with the police and repeatedly suffered attacks from criminals. Sliwa’s son and fellow Guardian Angel, Anthony, was injured while fending off an attack in early October on him and his stepfather, Democratic former New York State Governor David Paterson.

AUTHOR

John Oyewale

Contributor.

Tag Archive for: murder charges

‘Justice Has No Expiration Date’: Raúl Castro Indicted in U.S.

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‘The People’s Patrol’: Guardian Angels Keep Watch Over Subways After Woman Burned Alive

John Oyewale