Former Cuban leader Raúl Castro has been indicted in the United States alongside five other defendants, according to court filings made public Wednesday.
The charges, which have not been detailed in the publicly available filing, are expected to stem from a 1996 incident in which Cuban military aircraft shot down planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles. It is not yet clear what specific crimes are being alleged in the superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in South Florida.
A judge on Wednesday granted a motion to unseal the indictment against Raúl Castro, though the document itself has not yet been publicly posted. Among the co-defendants is a fighter pilot who was previously charged in connection with the 1996 shootdown more than two decades ago.
Raúl Castro, 94, served as Cuba’s defense minister before taking over the presidency in 2008 after his brother Fidel Castro fell ill. Fidel Castro, who led the 1959 revolution that brought communists to power in Cuba, died in 2016. Raúl Castro stepped down as president in 2018 but has continued to hold influence within Cuba’s political structure.
This article has been updated.
