On a clear afternoon in February 1996, three small Cessna planes flew south from Miami over the ocean. Only one came back. Two unarmed planes were destroyed by air-to-air missiles from Cuban fighter jets over the Florida Straits. Four men died: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales. Three were U.S. citizens; the fourth held a green card.
Nearly thirty years later, on May 20, 2026, federal prosecutors in Miami charged Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old younger brother of Fidel. At the time of the attack, Raúl was Cuba's defense minister and later became the island's president. Five former Cuban military pilots were also charged. The indictment was announced at the Freedom Tower in Miami, a historic building that once processed Cuban refugees, on Cuban Independence Day.
"For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice," said Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The planes belonged to Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based exile group founded by José Basulto in the early 1990s. Its mission was humanitarian: pilots flew over the water to find Cubans escaping by raft. Over time, the group turned toward protest. In January 1996, just weeks before the shootdown, its planes dropped leaflets over Cuba.
Prosecutors say Castro authorized "deadly force" against Brothers to the Rescue in January 1996, about a month before the attack. Cuban intelligence agents had infiltrated the group, and the attack followed months of planning.
Cuba has rejected the charges. The government maintains the planes were inside Cuban airspace and that it acted in self-defense. However, the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization concluded the aircraft were over international waters, outside Cuban airspace. Whether any men will ever stand trial remains uncertain.