{"id":9788,"date":"2026-06-08T14:28:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=9788"},"modified":"2026-06-08T14:28:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T18:28:48","slug":"u-s-indictment-of-raul-castro-comes-amid-a-long-history-of-american-aggression-against-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=9788","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Indictment of Ra\u00fal Castro Comes Amid a Long History of American Aggression Against Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announces the indictment of former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro, in Miami, Fla., on May 20, 2026. Chandan Khanna\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Trump administration on May 20, 2026, indicted former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro for murder<\/a>, based on the downing of two planes near the Cuban coastline in 1996 that killed four people.<\/p>\n

As a historian of Latin America and U.S. foreign policy<\/a>, I believe the indictment may be the prelude to direct U.S. military action against Cuba.<\/p>\n

Before Castro, the last U.S. indictment of a Latin American leader occurred in January 2026, when a U.S. attorney<\/a> appointed by President Donald Trump charged Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro with narco-terrorism. Those charges were promptly followed by U.S. military strikes<\/a> on Venezuela and the abduction of Maduro<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since January, the U.S. has ended the flow of Venezuelan oil to Cuba<\/a> and has used economic<\/a> and military<\/a> pressure to prevent other nations from trading with the island. And Trump recently threatened<\/a> a \u201cfriendly takeover<\/a>\u201d of Cuba.<\/p>\n

I believe that what\u2019s missing from most recent analysis of this situation is the history of U.S. aggression against Cuba<\/a>. This is essential context for understanding the Trump administration\u2019s recent escalations.<\/p>\n

\u2018Striking at Cuba constantly\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1823, U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams identified Cuba<\/a> as \u201can object of transcendent importance to the political and commercial interests of our Union.\u201d The 1959 Cuban Revolution<\/a> that overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista and replaced him with Fidel Castro, brother of Ra\u00fal, directly challenged those interests<\/a> by asserting political autonomy and expropriating private property.<\/p>\n

State Department officials observed<\/a> that \u201cthe majority of Cubans support Castro\u201d because of the government\u2019s redistributive measures<\/a> and its \u201creal honesty, courtesy, and idealism.\u201d One official warned<\/a> \u201cthat if the Cuban revolution is successful other countries in Latin America and perhaps elsewhere will use it as a model and we should decide whether or not we wish to have the Cuban revolution succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

They decided quickly. By December 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower\u2019s CIA director had approved plans to overthrow the Castro government<\/a>. U.S. policy thereafter included direct sponsorship<\/a> and safe haven<\/a> for Cuban paramilitary groups.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Several
An American plane is shot down on Playa Gir\u00f3n during the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. Keystone-France\/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The CIA-led Bay of Pigs invasion<\/a> in April 1961 is only the most famous episode. The U.S. trained 1,400 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba, hoping to ignite a nationwide rebellion. Instead, Cubans rallied behind the government.<\/p>\n

Though U.S. analysts often criticize the invasion<\/a> because it failed<\/a>, it was also a major crime under international law<\/a>. Several hundred Cubans were killed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fear of a repeat invasion also led Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev to send nuclear missiles to Cuba<\/a>, precipitating the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962<\/a> that nearly<\/a> led to nuclear war.<\/p>\n

Longtime CIA official Richard Helms<\/a> later testified that in the early 1960s, \u201cWe had task forces that were striking at Cuba constantly. We were attempting to blow up power plants, we were attempting to ruin sugar mills, we were attempting to do all kinds of things during this period. This was a matter of American Government policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1976, Luis Posada Carriles<\/a> and Orlando Bosch<\/a>, two Cuban exiles, planned the bombing of a Cuban civilian airliner<\/a> near Barbados that killed all 73 people aboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe C.I.A. taught us everything,\u201d Posada Carriles said<\/a> later. \u201cThey taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb, trained us in acts of sabotage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both men were given refuge<\/a> in the United States for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

The Bay of Pigs invasion and the airline bombing violate the core principles of international law, including prohibitions on the unprovoked \u201cthreat or use of force<\/a>\u201d and collective punishment<\/a>. The U.S. government itself defines \u201cinternational terrorism<\/a>\u201d as \u201cviolent acts\u201d intended \u201cto influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion\u201d or to \u201cintimidate or coerce a civilian population.\u201d<\/p>\n

By that definition, its Cuba policy qualifies.<\/p>\n

By \u2018every possible means\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another U.S. method of striking at Cuba was through economic sanctions, first imposed on the country in 1960. That year, a State Department official wrote<\/a> that \u201cevery possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba\u201d so as \u201cto bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government.\u201d The logic of collective punishment was clear: make Cubans suffer enough that they rebel against Castro.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Three<\/a>
Images of Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, Ra\u00fal Castro and Fidel Castro adorn the state building in Havana, Cuba, on May 20, 2026. AP Photo\/Ramon Espinosa<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

This policy is now more aggressive than ever. The tightening of U.S. sanctions<\/a> since Trump\u2019s first term has reduced Cuba\u2019s income from tourism<\/a>, remittances and overseas medical missions. Now, by choking off<\/a> the supply of fuel, the U.S. has critically weakened the healthcare and sanitation systems that depend on electricity.<\/p>\n

Medical professionals<\/a> and United Nations observers<\/a> have described scenes of ventilators and incubators left without power, pharmacies empty and healthcare workers forced into \u201chorrible decisions<\/a>\u201d about who lives and dies. A recent medical study reported a 148% increase in infant mortality<\/a> between 2018 and 2025, meaning that about 1,800 infants<\/a> died who otherwise would have lived.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was trained as a terrorist by the United States\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The focus of the recent U.S. indictment against Ra\u00fal Castro<\/a> was the incident on Feb. 24, 1996, when the Cuban military, which was headed by Castro, shot down those two planes.<\/p>\n

The planes were operated by Brothers to the Rescue<\/a>, an anti-Castro group of Cuban exiles who said they were aiding Cuban emigres trying to reach Florida. The group\u2019s head, and one of the surviving pilots that day, was Jos\u00e9 Basulto, a veteran CIA asset and participant in the Bay of Pigs invasion.<\/p>\n

In 1962, Basulto fired a cannon and machine gun \u201c16 times<\/a>\u201d at a Cuban hotel, he later recounted. \u201cI was trained as a terrorist by the United States,\u201d Basulto once told an interviewer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Basulto\u2019s plane had entered Cuban airspace on Feb. 24, as a U.S. customs service specialist later testified<\/a>. Correspondence from the day shows that Basulto did so knowingly<\/a>. The previous July, he had told<\/a> a TV audience, \u201cWe want confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Cuban military could have deescalated<\/a> the situation more carefully that day, Cuba had been trying<\/a> for months to stop the violations of its airspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I believe indicting Cuban officials over the incident is disingenuous, given the provocations by Brothers to the Rescue and U.S. actions against Cuba, which are in direct violation of international<\/a> and U.S.<\/a> laws that prohibit threats, nondefensive violence and collective punishment.\"The<\/p>\n

Kevin A. Young<\/a>, Associate Professor of History, UMass Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration on May 20, 2026, indicted former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro for murder, based on the downing of two planes near the Cuban coastline in 1996 that killed four people. As a historian of Latin America and U.S. foreign policy, I believe the indictment may be the prelude to direct U.S. military action…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":9790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/738865\/original\/file-20260529-100-zaf42d.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9791,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9788\/revisions\/9791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}