Miami, 19 October. A federal judge in Miami has issued an arrest warrant for 95-year-old former Cuban president Raul Castro, who is accused of conspiring with Cuban agents to commit first-degree murder over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes that killed four people (Anadolu, RBC).
According to records in the electronic database of the federal court for the Southern District of Florida, Castro faces charges of murder and destruction of an aircraft (TASS). Five others were also charged; according to NBC, they are pilots believed to have taken part in the operation: Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio Jose Palacio Blanco, Jose Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez (RBC).
RBC, citing NBC, describes the downed planes as humanitarian; all six face multiple counts, including four of murder (RBC).
Background: The warrant comes 30 years after the 1996 shootdown; the reports do not say how it might be enforced (Anadolu).
List of sources used: Anadolu, RBC, TASS
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
