MIAMI — The U.S. Justice Department will be hosting an event on Wednesday at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, and this has Cuban exiles hoping for an announcement about an indictment of Raúl Castro.
The event comes after reports that the Justice Department was preparing to seek his indictment for causing the deaths of four Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue volunteers in 1996 at sea.
Andy Gomez, the former director of the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, said the Trump administration’s choice of the Freedom Tower was a symbolic gesture.
“Sources in Washington tell me that he will be indicted tomorrow,” Gomez said on Tuesday. He added, “It’s a symbolism that is taking place to give the Cuban American community, if you will, what we have been asking for, for 20 years. Is that going to be enough? I don’t think so.”
Castro, now 94, and his brother, Fidel Castro, were accused of ordering the Cuban Air Force shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue Cessna 337 Skymasters that had departed from the Opa Locka Executive Airport at about 3:20 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1996.
Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales were in the Cessna 337C. Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre were in the Cessna 337B. Both planes were registered in the U.S., records show.
Air-to-air missiles fired from Cuban Air Force MiG-29 fighter jets hit both planes — killing Alejandre, 45; Costa, 29; and De la Peña, 24, who were U.S. citizens; and Morales, 29, a U.S. resident, records showed.
“Both Cessna aircraft broke up in the air from the explosions of the missiles, the wreckage impacted the sea and sank,” according to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s report.
Fidel Castro died on Nov. 25, 2016. He was 90.
U.S.-CUBA TENSIONS
The U.S. cut Venezuela’s oil supply to Cuba after capturing Nicolás Maduro and threatened to impose tariffs on countries that provided oil to Cuba. There was an exception in March for a Russian ship.
The fuel shortage has prompted power outages and transportation problems. The domino effect moved to water and garbage service disruptions, shortages of food and medicines, and unemployment. This has also impacted the education and healthcare systems.
President Donald Trump and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel both confirmed there were ongoing U.S.-Cuba diplomatic talks.
In January, Trump called for the Cuban government “to make a deal BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” In February, Trump said a “friendly takeover of Cuba” was possible. On Tuesday, Trump said he was still hoping for a deal.
“We are going to get that solved,” Trump said. “That’s not going to be hard for us to solve.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Raúl Castro’s grandson, Raúl “Raúlito” Rodríguez Castro, have been involved in the talks.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials on May 14 in Havana. On Sunday, Axios reported that Cuba had acquired more than 300 military drones to be used on Guantanamo Bay and Florida.
On Monday, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a group of Cuban communist officials, three generals, and three government agencies.
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