Florida obtains state arrest warrant for Raúl Castro over 1996 shootdown, murder-conspiracy charge stacks on federal indictment from May, affidavit quotes standing orders to shoot planes down at sea

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Florida has obtained a state arrest warrant charging former Cuban leader Raúl Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that killed four people, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday. The warrant, secured by the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, adds a state charge to the federal case Castro already faces.

The case reaches back to February 24, 1996, when three unarmed Cessnas operated by Brothers to the Rescue — a Miami-based organization that searched for Cuban migrants in distress and flew missions supporting pro-democracy activists — departed Opa-locka Airport. Cuban MiG fighters fired air-to-air missiles at two of the planes over international waters, killing Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña and Armando Alejandre Jr.; a third aircraft escaped after being pursued. According to the arrest affidavit, both downed planes were flying away from Cuba and received no warning, despite being in contact with Havana air traffic control.

Castro was Cuba's defence minister and first vice president at the time, and the affidavit alleges he was the final decision-maker in the military chain of command, having given senior officers standing orders: "Fine, shoot them down at sea when they show up, and those who have the authority are not to consult anyone." The document also describes the Wasp Network — Cuban intelligence agents operating in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties — infiltrating Brothers to the Rescue and transmitting flight information to Havana in support of what prosecutors call Operation Scorpion. State prosecutors say the collection and transmission of flight information in the two counties establishes that parts of the conspiracy occurred in Florida — the jurisdictional basis for a state charge against a former foreign head of state.

A federal indictment unsealed in Miami in May charged Castro and five other men with conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft and murder. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called that prosecution a political action "without any legal basis" and said Cuba acted in "legitimate defence" after repeated violations of its airspace, which he said US officials had been warned about. Uthmeier directed prosecutors to reopen the investigation last year.

The federal indictment was unsealed in May. Neither docket has yet produced an arrest.