Florida Gets No-Bond Arrest Warrant for Raúl Castro Over 1996 Plane Shootdown

Florida has obtained a state arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on a no-bond charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, stemming from the 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft, according to a warrant obtained by Fox News Digital. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, whose office reopened the state's investigation after he took office, is expected to announce the warrant with Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference Monday morning.

The warrant was issued in Miami-Dade County and directs law enforcement to immediately arrest Castro. It says a judge found probable cause to believe he conspired to commit first-degree murder in the deaths of four men aboard the unarmed civilian planes shot down on Feb. 24, 1996. It is a new front in the effort to hold Castro accountable for an attack that has long reverberated through South Florida's Cuban-American community. He already faces a separate federal prosecution over the shootdown.

"The investigation revealed evidence of a conspiracy to kill persons aboard BTTR aircraft," the warrant reads. "The deaths of Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peña, and Armando Alejandre Jr. were the object of that conspiracy." According to the warrant, investigators allege that the Castro regime's foreign intelligence service developed a plan to shoot down the aircraft and kill their occupants, and that the plan traveled up the chain of command to Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel Castro, the final decision-makers.

The warrant quotes a recorded statement Castro made months after the incident, describing orders he gave to senior military leaders. "They have violated the airspace, the waters of the Republic. I made it clear that this had to be decentralized if we wanted it to do its job, and five generals were given the authority," he said. "Of course, with a missile shot like that, plane against plane, what comes down is a ball of fire, and it is going to fall on top of the city. So I said: Fine, shoot them down at sea when they show up, and those who have the authority are not to consult anyone."

Brothers to the Rescue is a Miami-based group that flew unarmed civilian aircraft to search for Cuban migrants stranded or lost at sea. By the mid-1990s it had also become involved in anti-Castro political activity, including dropping pro-democracy leaflets over Cuba. The Cuban government has rejected the U.S. prosecution, maintaining that the group repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and that Cuba acted in defense of its sovereignty.

The warrant indicates Florida will seek full extradition if Castro, now 95, is arrested outside the state, authorizing authorities to pursue his return to Florida to face the felony charge if he is taken into custody in another U.S. jurisdiction. The attorney general's Office of Statewide Prosecution will assume jurisdiction over the multi-circuit conspiracy case. The state action follows the federal indictment of Castro on murder and conspiracy charges tied to the shootdown, which Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., discussed on Fox News' "Sunday Night in America."