A U.S. Department of Justice official said late on Thursday that the United States plans to pursue an indictment of Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba. The official did not provide a timetable for when an indictment might be returned.
Any indictment would need to be approved by a grand jury before charges could be filed. According to the Justice Department official, the potential case is expected to focus on the downing of aircraft, though no formal charging document has been presented publicly.
Separate reporting has linked the conduct under review to the 1996 shootdown of planes run by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue. That incident has been mentioned as the conduct at issue in the matter under examination.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida is overseeing an effort to examine whether criminal charges are warranted against senior officials in the Cuban government. Officials involved in that office are coordinating the inquiry, but the public record does not include a formal charging decision or a scheduled grand jury action.
The available information stops short of disclosing specific charges, formal filings, or a timeline for prosecution. The Justice Department official's statement establishes the department's intent to move toward an indictment but leaves the procedural milestones - including grand jury consideration - as necessary next steps before any charges could be lodged.
Observers and interested parties currently must rely on the limited public information: a Justice Department official's announcement of planned action, the requirement that a grand jury approve any indictment, notation that the alleged conduct relates to the downing of aircraft, and that the Southern District of Florida's U.S. Attorney's Office is managing the examination of potential charges. Beyond those points, the record available in public statements remains sparse.