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Cuba Dispatch
22OCT

Florida AG secures Raúl Castro warrant

2 min read
17:12UTC

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a no-bond state warrant charging Raúl Castro with conspiracy to murder over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.

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PoliticsDeveloping
Key takeaway

Florida now holds its own murder-conspiracy warrant for Raúl Castro, beside the federal indictment.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on 19 October a no-bond state arrest warrant for Raúl Castro, Cuba's former president, charging conspiracy to commit first-degree murder⁠1⁠2. The charge concerns the 1996 shootdown of two aircraft flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami exile group that searched the Florida Straits for rafters; four men died. Uthmeier's office said, according to US press reports, that Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade signed the warrant on 16 October on a finding of probable cause.

The state's affidavit alleges that Cuban agents inside the group passed flight details to Havana. The warrant runs beside the federal indictment unsealed on 20 May, which Havana condemned as political coercion, and has no reach inside Cuba; its practical effect falls on Castro's travel.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

In February 1996 Cuban military jets shot down two small planes flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami group of Cuban exiles that searched the sea for people fleeing Cuba on rafts. Four men died. Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro's brother, later Cuba's president, led the armed forces at the time. The US federal government charged him over the deaths in May. Now the State of Florida has its own arrest warrant for him. It can be used only if he travels somewhere that would arrest him. He is in his 90s and lives in Cuba.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

Florida politics keeps the 1996 shootdown alive: the four men killed flew for a Miami exile group, and their families and the Cuban American electorate have pressed for prosecution for three decades. A statewide elected prosecutor gains from acting where federal cases have moved slowly.

The federal indictment announced in May made the case current again. A state warrant adds a second track that does not depend on federal decisions.

The affidavit's claim that Cuban agents inside the group passed flight details to Havana restates the core of the federal case: that the shootdown was planned, not a reaction.

What could happen next?
  • Consequence

    Raúl Castro's foreign travel carries arrest risk under two US warrants, though Cuba's allies are unlikely to act on either.

  • Meaning

    Havana is using the warrant in its campaign before the 28 October UN embargo vote as evidence of US hostility.

Sources:Cubadebate·CBS12·FOX 35 Orlando
Mentions:Brothers to the Rescue →Miami-Dade County →Department of Justice →Havana →Tampa →Interpol →London →Panama →Miami →Florida →Cuba →House of Lords →MINREX →Ariana Fajardo Orshan →James Uthmeier →Florida Attorney General →Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida →Raúl Castro →Florida Straits →
First Reported In

Update #15 · Cuba opens oilfields, US cuts dollar routes

Cubadebate· 22 Oct 2026
Read original →
Causes and effects
This Event
Florida AG secures Raúl Castro warrant
The state warrant adds a second US charge against Cuba's former president, though neither can reach him inside Cuba.
Led to
Rodríguez accuses US of UN vote pressure
Rodríguez called Florida's Raúl Castro warrant an infamous act at his 21 October press conference.
Occurred 21 Oct 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
UN General Assembly
UN General Assembly
The Assembly passed last year's resolution against the US embargo by 165 votes to 7, with 12 abstentions, and votes again on 28 October. That count is the baseline against which Havana's lobbying claims and Washington's pressure will be measured.
Mexican Navy (Secretaría de Marina)
Mexican Navy (Secretaría de Marina)
A Mexican Navy team inspected Grace at Progreso and found fuel in its ballast tanks, according to the US Coast Guard. The account of Mexico's role comes from Washington; the Mexican government's own position on the stop is not on record in the sources reviewed.
Pedro Monreal, independent Cuban economist
Pedro Monreal, independent Cuban economist
Monreal says the gazette contains no rule for the exchange-house licence ADT 64 received, so nobody knows how a second firm could apply. He says a representative rate would need at least ten houses in five provinces, Havana included.
Prisoners Defenders and OCDH (Madrid-based exile monitors)
Prisoners Defenders and OCDH (Madrid-based exile monitors)
Prisoners Defenders counted a record 1,351 political prisoners at the end of September, and OCDH logged at least 344 repressive actions that month. OCDH asked the European Union on 11 September to investigate possible trafficking in Cuba's medical brigade in Italy.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier
Uthmeier announced a no-bond state warrant for Raúl Castro on 19 October over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, after reopening the state investigation last year. The four men killed flew for a Miami exile group, and the warrant restricts Castro's travel rather than reaching him in Cuba.
Cuban government (Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla)
Cuban government (Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla)
Rodríguez said on 21 October that Washington is pressing governments to abstain or leave the hall in the 28 October UN vote and called Florida's Raúl Castro warrant worthless. Havana is presenting its October oil and trade rules as openings and the US measures as an energy blockade.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.