Cuba Condemns U.S. Judicial Maneuver Targeting Raúl Castro

HAVANA — President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned today a new legal action initiated in Miami against the leader of the Cuban Revolution, General of the Army Raúl Castro, describing it as a political maneuver lacking legal validity or practical effect on the island.

In a message published on the social media platform X, the head of state affirmed that the measure forms part of a “pathetic Miami circus” driven by electoral interests, asserting that actions targeted against Castro will consistently meet the Cuban people's determination to defend the Revolution.

Díaz-Canel considered the initiative to be a maneuver “under a legal guise” orchestrated by anti-Cuban politicians, maintaining that it belongs to ongoing efforts to justify the economic, commercial, and financial embargo imposed by the United States and the collective punishment against the Caribbean nation.

For his part, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez also condemned the measure, describing it as another maneuver pushed by anti-Cuban sectors based in South Florida.

The foreign minister stated that these actions reflect the political exhaustion of groups that have fed an aggressive machinery against Cuba for decades through what he termed baseless allegations.

The official statements follow a decision by a Miami judge to issue a new arrest warrant related to the February 1996 shootdown of two aircraft belonging to the organization Brothers to the Rescue (Hermanos al Rescate). The measure, announced by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, joins previous proceedings brought forward in the United States against the Cuban leader and other citizens over those events.

Cuba rejected the federal indictment linked to the same case last May, denouncing at the time that Washington lacks jurisdiction and legitimacy to prosecute events tied to the defense of national sovereignty.

Havana's official position maintains that the aircraft involved repeatedly violated Cuban airspace, recalling that national authorities submitted complaints regarding those incursions for years before U.S. agencies and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

According to Cuban authorities, the island's actions were protected under the right to self-defense, the protection of aerial sovereignty, and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the 1944 Chicago Convention.

The Cuban government has denounced that actions of this nature form part of Washington's ongoing policy of hostility toward the island and attempts to legitimize the continuation of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade enforced for over six decades.