FLORIDA (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — A federal indictment against Raul Castro has reopened one of the most painful cases tied to South Florida’s Cuban-American community: the 1996 shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft over international waters.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment charging Raul Modesto Castro Ruz, 94, of Holguin, Cuba, and five co-defendants in connection with the Feb. 24, 1996 attack. The aircraft were operated by Brothers to the Rescue, also known as Hermanos al Rescate, a Miami-based humanitarian flight organization.
The case is rooted in South Florida. Brothers to the Rescue flew missions across the Florida Straits, including searches for Cuban migrants in distress. On the day of the shoot-down, three Brothers to the Rescue aircraft departed from Opa-locka Airport for a planned humanitarian flight south of the 24th parallel.
Two of those planes were destroyed.
Federal prosecutors say Cuban military fighter jets fired air-to-air missiles at two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft without warning while the planes were outside Cuban territory. The aircraft were identified in the indictment as tail numbers N2456S and N5485S.
Four U.S. nationals were killed: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales. Three were U.S. citizens, according to the Justice Department.
The indictment charges Castro; Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, of Las Tunas, Cuba; Emilio José Palacio Blanco; José Fidel Gual Barzaga; Raul Simanca Cardenas; and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez. The charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.
According to the indictment, Cuban intelligence agents had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue beginning in the early 1990s and relayed information about the group’s flight operations to the Cuban government. Prosecutors allege those reports were later used by Cuban military leadership in planning the 1996 operation.
The indictment also says Cuban military pilots conducted training exercises in the weeks before the attack to locate and intercept slow-moving civilian aircraft.
The federal case is being handled in South Florida. The FBI Miami Field Office led the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abbie D. Waxman and Michael E. Gilfarb for the Southern District of Florida are prosecuting the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office also acknowledged assistance from the Florida Attorney General’s Office.
The Justice Department announcement was made in connection with a ceremony at the Freedom Tower in Miami honoring the victims. The location carries its own meaning in South Florida, where the story has remained part of the region’s Cuban exile history for nearly 30 years.
Florida political leaders also responded to the indictment. Byron Donalds, a Republican congressman and Florida gubernatorial candidate, called it “a day of justice for the Cuban people” and “a day of justice for Cuban Americans in Florida, and all across the United States of America.”
Donalds said he hopes any trial is held in Florida.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment on the murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals counts. Castro and Perez-Perez also face up to five years in prison for each destruction of aircraft count. Any sentence would be determined by a federal judge.
Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez, 65, of Havana, Cuba, is already in U.S. custody pending sentencing later this month in the Middle District of Florida for making false statements in an immigration document, according to the Justice Department.
An indictment is an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
Boca Post remains focused on Boca Raton news, but major Florida developments can shape life across South Florida.
