Florida issued a state arrest warrant Monday for Raúl Castro, charging him with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in connection to the February 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue planes that killed four men flying an unarmed humanitarian mission.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the warrant at a news conference at Florida International University. "It was not an accident, what happened. It was murder," Uthmeier said.
Who were the four men killed
The four victims were Armando Alejandre Jr., 45; Mario de la Peña, 24; Pablo Morales, 29; and Carlos Costa, 29. According to WPLG Local 10, all four were flying in two Cessna 337 aircraft on February 24, 1996, in international waters as part of Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based Cuban-American nonprofit founded in 1991 to help save the lives of refugees at sea. "They were in unarmed civilian aircraft going out to save people," Uthmeier said.
What the affidavit alleges
According to the affidavit reviewed by WPLG Local 10, Castro, then minister of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) and first vice president of Cuba, was "a final decision-maker in the chain of command" that authorized the shootdown. The affidavit alleges that Cuban spies infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue and that Cuban MiGs destroyed the aircraft with air-to-air missiles without warning.
Uthmeier said the evidence showed a conspiracy. "The evidence makes abundantly clear that there was a conspiracy. Spies infiltrated both the Brothers to the Rescue as well as American government offices," he stated.
State and federal charges running in parallel
Castro, now 95, is already facing federal prosecution. The U.S. Department of Justice announced federal murder charges in May 2026. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, who announced the federal case on May 20 in downtown Miami, said he was standing in support of Uthmeier's "parallel" prosecution, according to WPLG Local 10.
The state warrant is a no-bond arrest warrant signed by a Miami-Dade County Circuit judge. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the case. FDLE special agent in charge Michael Stein said in a statement that "the passage of time does not diminish the pursuit of justice."
How the warrant could be used
Representatives from Florida will not arrest Castro in Cuba themselves, but according to WSVN, the warrant provides the legal framework for state authorities to extradite him if he is arrested elsewhere. Uthmeier acknowledged the practical obstacles, saying Castro is an older man who is probably not looking to come to Miami, and that "others would get him before the court of law would," but "we stand ready to prosecute the case."
The announcement came on the first day of early voting in Florida. Uthmeier is running for reelection against José Javier Rodriguez. Rodriguez held his own press conference outside FIU, questioning the timing. "What is the plan? What are they announcing here during the early vote, right? They're coming here, making a mockery of our community. Thirty years, seven months, 25 days [later]. What is the plan to arrest him?" Rodriguez said, according to WSVN.
Victims' families welcomed the development despite the three-decade delay. One family member told WSVN, "Justice has happened. Not total, but it is some justice." Another said, "My father stood for a free Cuba. That was his most important thing. That's all he cared about."