Trump administration indicts Cuba’s Raul Castro over 1996 plane shootdown

Key points

• The indictment marks one of the sharpest escalations in tensions between Washington and Havana.
• United States federal prosecutors have indicted Cuba’s former President Raul Castro in connection with the 1996 downing of planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
• The indictment, unsealed on Wednesday, marks one of the sharpest escalations in tensions between Washington and Havana in years.
• The US Department of Justice alleges that Castro, Cuba’s defence minister at the time, played a leading role in the decision to have Cuban fighter jets shoot down two civilian aircraft on February 24, 1996. It has charged Castro with one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, four counts of murder and two counts of destroying an aircraft.
• Five co-defendants were also named in the indictment.