“We have Cuba on our minds,” President Donald Trump told reporters following the indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro Wednesday.
The U.S. has been turning up the heat on the communist Caribbean Island, with the president toying with military action to bring down several decades of dictatorship in Cuba.
Castro, 94, has been indicted on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, citing a 30-year-old incident, alleging Castro, Lorenzo Alberto Perez-Perez, Emilio Jose Palacio Blanco, Jose Fidel Gual Barzaga, Raul Simanca Cardenas, and Luis Raul Gonzalez-Pardo Rodriguez played roles in the “shoot-down” of two “unarmed” American civilian aircraft over international waters in Feb. 1996. The incident led to the deaths of four Americans, Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Pena and Pablo Morales.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche highlighted that the nearly seven decades of the Cuban dictatorship have plagued the United States.
“For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens. President Trump and this Justice Department are committed to restoring a simple principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you. No matter who you are. No matter what title you hold,” Blanche said in a statement.
In addition to four counts of murder, the indictment also includes charges of two counts of destruction of an aircraft and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals. If convicted, the defendants could face death or life in prison.
Trump reacted to the news of the indictments following a commencement ceremony at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut. The president told reporters that Cuba has “been a problem for a lot of years.”
“It think it was a very big moment for people, not only Cuban Americans, but people that came from Cuba, that want to go back to Cuba, people that want to see their family in Cuba,” said Trump.
The president also addressed any talk of military involvement in Cuba, saying that he doesn’t believe “escalation” will be necessary.
“No. There won’t be escalation. I don’t think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart. It’s a mess, and they’ve sort of lost control,” Trump told reporters.
The president added that the U.S. is there to help families, coming on the heels of the U.S. reportedly offering $100 million in humanitarian aid to the island nation. The aid would be channeled through religious organizations to bypass the Cuban government.
“We have a lot of expertise in Cuba, and it’s not going to be like the biggest thing we’ve ever done, but I will tell you to a lot of people it’s going to be one of the most important. They’ve been looking for this moment for 65 years, so we’ll see what happens, but we’re going to, in the meantime, we’re going to have to help them out. They have no, no way of living. They have no food, they have no electricity, they have no energy at all. But they do have great people, a lot of great people,” Trump told reporters. “We’re freeing up Cuba.”
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, released a video to the Cuban people.
Rubio made it clear to the Cuban people that the U.S. is not responsible for the lack of electricity or impoverishing the country, instead placing blame directly on the regime.
“The reason you are forced to survive without electricity is not an oil blockade by America…no electricity, fuel or food is because the people who control it have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people,” said the secretary of state.
Rubio told the Cuban people that the U.S. is “ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people and our countries.”
Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba, meeting with Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, and other high-ranking officials to reportedly discuss security and economic issues on the island.
The indictment and focus on Cuba follows a pattern of the Trump administration emphasizing securing the Western Hemisphere, including the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.