Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against former Cuban President Ral Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the socialist g overnment.The indictment was related to Castros alleged role in the shootdown of two small planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, now 94, was Cuba's defense minister at the time. The charges included murder and destruction of an airplane.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other top Justice Department officials made the announcement in Miami at a ceremony to honor those killed in the shootdown.For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice, Blanche said. They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida straits.There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government.RELATED STORY | CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Raul Castro's grandson in CubaMarlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was among those who died, said the charges were long overdue. She said her father only wanted to bring freedom to his Cuban homeland.Over the years, she spoke to multiple federal investigators about charging Castro. She referred to him as one of the main architects of the crime.President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured the Cuban governments longtime patron, Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. After ousting Maduro, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.Since Maduro's capture, Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging earlier this year to conduct a friendly takeover of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.Trumps first administration indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and used that to justify removing him from power during a surprise military raid in January that whisked the Venezuelan leader to New York to face trial.Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged the Cuban people to demand a free-market economy with new leadership that he said will chart a new course in relations with the U.S.RELATED STORY | US intelligence-gathering flights are surging off CubaIn the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people, Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said in a Spanish-language video message. Currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.Cubas deputy foreign minister, Carlos F. de Cosso lashed out at Rubio on X, saying he lies so repeatedly and unscrupulously about Cuba and tries to justify the aggression he inflicts on the Cuban people. Rubio "knows full well that there is no excuse for such cruel and ruthless aggression.Ral Castro believed to wield power behind the scenesTheres no indication Castro will be taken into U.S. custody anytime soon.He took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, Daz-Canel, in 2018.While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Ral Guillermo Rodrguez Castro, who previously met secretly with Rubio.Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including Castros grandson. Two other senior State Department officials met with the grandson in April.The symbolic nature is absolutely crucial, said Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman, a former prosecutor at the U.S. attorneys office in Miami who handled national security cases and crimes involving Cubans.Even though Ral Castro will likely stay and die in Cuba, you can use the indictment as a pressure point, a tactical advantage, to extract other concessions like the release of prisoners or to keep Russia out, she added.The investigation into Castro stretches back to the 1990sStarting in 1995, planes flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded by Cuban exiles, buzzed over Havana dropping leaflets urging Cubans to rise up against the Castro government.The Cubans protested to the U.S. government, warning that they would defend their airspace. Federal Aviation Administration officials also opened an investigation and met with the groups leaders to urge them to ground the flights, according to declassified government records obtained by George Washington Universitys National Security Archive.This latest overflight can only be seen as further taunting of the Cuban Government, an FAA official wrote in an email to her superiors after one intrusion in January 1996. Worst case scenario is that one of these days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes.But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes a short distance north of Havana just beyond Cubas airspace. All four men aboard were killed.Ral Castro faced earlier indictmentGuy Lewis, who was a federal prosecutor, uncovered evidence linking senior Cuban military officials to cocaine trafficking by Colombias Medellin cartel. Following the shootdown, the investigation expanded, and prosecutors pursued charges against Ral Castro for leading a vast racketeering conspiracy by Cubas armed forces.The evidence was strong, Lewis said in an interview.In the end, the Clinton administration indicted four individuals, including the MiG pilots, the head of the Cuban air force and the head of a Cuban spy network in Miami the only one to see the inside of a U.S. prison for providing valuable intelligence about the flights.The incident led the U.S. to harden its position against Cuba, even though the Cold War had ended and the Castros support for revolution across Latin America was a fading memory.But Castro himself was spared as the Clinton administration which had quietly sought to expand relations with Cuba prior to the incident raised foreign policy concerns about such a high-profile indictment.Ral was definitely one who slipped through the noose, Lewis said. The crime is notorious. Three U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident were killed in a premeditated orchestrated murder. That should never be forgotten. ...read more read less