The U.S. indicted Raul Castro. Will they bring him to Miami to be prosecuted?
In the moments after he announced that a grand jury had indicted Raúl Castro for the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked the same question over and over again: Will the Trump administration attempt to bring the 94-year-old from Cuba to be prosecuted in Miami?
“This isn’t a show indictment,” Blanche said. “There was a warrant issued for his arrest, so we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way.”
Whether Castro ever stands trial for murder in Miami will determine whether Wednesday’s announcement — made as the Trump administration pushes Cuba’s tottering government for reforms — was more than a symbolic measure and pressure tactic to bring the communist regime to heel.
Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel described it as “a political action … that only seeks to beef up the case they’re manufacturing to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.” Earlier this week, he said military action by the U.S. “would trigger a bloodbath.”
In Miami and Cuba, the indictment, unsealed on what the United States recognizes as Cuba’s independence day, was treated as an escalation of the Trump administration’s aggressive posture toward the island.
Cuban exiles said they expect Donald Trump to follow through on the indictment against Castro and five others, noting that the U.S. military acted on an indictment of former Venezuelan ruler Nicolás Maduro to invade that country, seize the authoritarian ruler and drag him to New York to face prosecution on drug conspiracy charges.
“If we went to Venezuela and we got Maduro, we have to get these people,” said 57-year-old Carmen Torres, born in Puerto Rico to a father from Havana and a mother from Guantánamo. “We need to do something.”
The White House, too, drew a clear line between the day of the announced charges and its use of the military to capture Maduro.
“The indictment and removal of Maduro sent a clear message to his socialist allies in Havana,” the White House wrote in a message reflecting Wednesday’s anniversary. “This is our Hemisphere and those that destabilize it and threaten the United States will face consequences.”
But there were no hard commitments on Wednesday to make sure that Castro, who turns 95 next month, will ever make it into a U.S. courtroom.
Blanche deferred to the White House a question about whether the Trump administration would consider military action to seize Castro. The White House referred a reporter asking the same question to Blanche’s Department of Justice.
“It’s hard to see how this ends up as anything other than a huge symbolic show to satisfy the anxieties of the Cuban-American constituency ahead of the midterms,” Orlando J. Pérez, a professor of political science at the University of North Texas at Dallas, wrote on X. “The prospects that Raul Castro will end up in a US court are infinitesimal.”
‘Leave now’
If Miami’s members of Congress have a say, the Trump administration would do the same to Castro as it did to Maduro.
During a press conference in Washington Wednesday morning, they pointed to the indictment as an ultimatum to the country’s former president: leave now, or expect capture or death.
“We are sending the message to the Castro family: it’s time for you to leave. It’s time for you to heed the signal from the White House and do not fall into the abyss,” Rep. María Elvira Salazar told reporters during a press conference in Washington.
She was standing in front of a poster with a photo of Maduro with the label “CAPTURED,” a photo of the killed former Iranian leader Ali Khamenei marked “ELIMINATED” and a photo of Raúl Castro stamped “PENDING.”
“You have the option not to wind up where Maduro is. You can leave now,” she said.
Miami’s lawmakers also praised the indictment as justice for the killing of the pilots 30 years ago. “Justice delayed, but at least it’s justice,” Rep. Carlos Giménez said. They stood in front of four additional photos showing the four men killed in the shoot-down — Armando Alejandre, Jr., Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.
“These four individuals are screaming and yelling from their grave for justice. Their families are asking for justice,” Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart said.
He and the other Miami representatives, all Republicans, penned a letter to President Donald Trump in February requesting the charges against Castro. Nicole Malliotakis, a Cuban-American representative from New York, also signed the letter and joined them Wednesday in Washington.
They didn’t mince words about the stakes or timing of the indictment amid the escalating U.S. pressure against Cuba. Following the military operation to seize Maduro in Caracas and take him to New York to be prosecuted, they repeated statements from Trump that “Cuba is next.”
“To those that wonder whether this is just an indictment or we’re gonna go away, we’re not,” Blanche said. “We certainly expect and believe that Mr. Castro is entitled to his day in court right here in Miami.”
Miami Herald reporters Alexandra Phelps and Nora Gámez Torres contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 8:43 AM with the headline "The U.S. indicted Raul Castro. Will they bring him to Miami to be prosecuted?."
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