Brothers to the Rescue is again at the center of a U.S. effort involving Raúl Castro
The U.S. Justice Department is considering seeking an indictment of Cuban leader Raúl Castro connected to the 1996 shootdown of two aircraft linked to the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, according to the Associated Press. The report said a person familiar with the investigation described the potential indictment as connected to Castro’s alleged role in the incident. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The legal effort, if it proceeds, would bring renewed attention to an episode that has long been tied to the sharp edges of U.S.-Cuba relations, including the political and operational stakes involved in exile group activity out of South Florida. It also places Brothers to the Rescue back in focus as an organization whose operations in the Florida straits and near Cuban airspace have previously been described as a recurring point of friction with Havana.
Brothers to the Rescue began operating in 1980, according to AP, during a wave of Cubans who emigrated unexpectedly to the United States. Founded by emigré José Basulto, the group aimed to help Cuban refugees in the Florida straits by dropping supplies from small planes and alerting the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Associated Press report traced part of the lead-up to the incident to a monthslong crisis after some Cubans protested travel restrictions imposed by the communist government led by Fidel Castro. AP said Fidel Castro opened the port of Mariel to anyone who wanted to leave, which filled the Florida straits with people seeking escape.
At the same time, AP reported that the Clinton administration changed immigration rules in an effort to discourage Cubans from traveling north on rickety, makeshift boats. Despite that, Brothers to the Rescue continued flying toward Cuban airspace—an activity that AP said “provok[ed] Havana.”
In the episode at the center of the latest development, AP reported that on Feb. 24, 1996, three planes carrying members of Brothers to the Rescue entered a zone close to the 24th parallel, north of Havana. AP said the aircraft were operating at the time in an area described as near some of Cuba’s highest-value targets.
AP reported that Cuban fighter planes shot down two unarmed civilian Cessnas, killing all four men aboard. The report also said a third plane carrying the organization’s leader narrowly escaped.
AP said that earlier legal proceedings in the matter included counterintelligence efforts. In a story fictionalized in the movie “The Wasp Network,” AP reported that U.S. counterintelligence caught five Cuban intelligence agents who had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue; AP said two Cuban agents served long sentences and three were released from custody in a prisoner exchange that came before former President Barack Obama’s detente with Raúl Castro.
AP also reported that two Cuban fighter jet pilots and their commanding officer were indicted in connection with the shootdown but have remained outside the reach of U.S. law enforcement while living in Cuba. The AP report did not say how the Justice Department’s current review would handle that jurisdictional challenge.
The Associated Press report added that Castro has been under U.S. criminal investigation before. It said that in 1993, federal prosecutors in Miami considered charging Castro and several other senior Cuban military officials with cocaine trafficking based on testimony from Colombian traffickers that emerged in the drug trial of former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. AP reported that prosecutors did not move forward on an indictment at the time, citing concerns about the witness credibility and fears the case could risk U.S. intelligence operations and derail an outreach to Cuba then under consideration by President Bill Clinton.
AP reported that the story was first published May 18 and updated May 19 to correct that two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down, not four.