FLORIDA ISSUES NO-BOND ARREST WARRANT FOR RAUL CASTRO OVER MURDER OF FOUR AMERICANS
A Miami judge has signed a no-bond state arrest warrant charging 95-year-old communist dictator Raúl Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. The charge stems from the February 24, 1996, shootdown of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue civilian planes over international waters. Cuban MiG fighter jets destroyed the aircraft, killing four men from the Miami area who were on a humanitarian mission searching for Cuban rafters fleeing the Castro regime.
The victims were Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr. Three were U.S. citizens. One was a legal permanent resident. At the time, Raúl Castro served as Cuba’s defense minister and head of the armed forces. Florida authorities say he was a final decision-maker who ordered the attack.
Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit signed the warrant Friday after a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation. The probe established jurisdiction because Cuban spies operating inside Florida infiltrated the Brothers to the Rescue group, transmitted flight data, and monitored Naval Air Station Key West.
One operative left the state the day before the shootdown. The affidavit states there is probable cause that Castro “agreed with others to commit first-degree murder” of the men aboard the planes. The deaths of Costa, Morales, de la Peña, and Alejandre were the object of that conspiracy.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who reopened the state investigation after taking office, announced the warrant Monday at Florida International University. He said: “Raúl Castro ordered the murder of four Floridians in cold blood, and Florida will never stop pursuing accountability for that communist conspiracy.
The Castro regime’s spies operated in our communities, fed intelligence to Havana, and helped put civilian pilots in the crosshairs of Cuban MiGs. Thirty years later, we are still fighting for justice for Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr.”
Court documents include Castro’s own recorded words months after the killings. He told senior officers: “Fine, shoot them down at sea when they show up, and those who have the authority are not to consult anyone.” Investigators say the plan moved through the chain of command with Raúl and Fidel Castro as the ultimate decision-makers. The warrant authorizes extradition if Castro is arrested anywhere in the United States.
This state charge runs alongside a federal indictment filed in May 2026 that charged Castro and others with murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. For nearly three decades, the Cuban government has claimed the planes were over Cuban waters and that the attack defended sovereignty.
The United States and the United Nations have consistently found the shootdown occurred in international waters. Families in South Florida have never stopped demanding accountability. Florida just took another concrete step to deliver it.
Sources: Miami Herald, Fox News, NBC Miami, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier statements, arrest warrant and affidavit details reported by multiple outlets.