The Trump Department of Justice just indicted former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro for the murder of four American citizens — a crime committed thirty years ago that every previous administration was too spineless to prosecute. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche made the announcement from the Freedom Tower in Miami on May 20th, which also happens to be the 124th anniversary of Cuban independence. The timing was no accident.
Thirty years. Four dead Americans. And it took Donald Trump to finally do something about it. Shocking absolutely no one.
The indictment, originally handed down by a U.S. grand jury in Florida back in April and unsealed on Tuesday, charges Castro with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder. The victims — Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales — were members of Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based anti-communist charity that flew humanitarian missions. On February 24, 1996, Cuban MiG fighter jets shot down two of their unarmed civilian planes, killing all four Americans aboard.
And we have the receipts. According to Breitbart, Cuban journalist Wilfredo Cancio reported back in 2006 on an audio recording in which Raúl Castro personally took credit for ordering the shootdown. On the tape, Castro can be heard saying, "I told them [the MiG pilots] to try to knock them down over [Cuban] territory... Well, knock them down into the sea when they reappear." As Cancio told El País, "what makes that recording significant is that it provides audio evidence of Raúl Castro taking full responsibility."
So there's an actual recording of the dictator ordering the murder of Americans. And for three decades, our government did nothing. Bill Clinton was president when it happened. Did nothing. Every administration since. Nothing.
Blanche laid it out plainly at the press conference: "My message today is clear, the United States and President Trump does not — and will not — forget its citizens." He continued: "President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle: If you kill Americans we will pursue you, no matter who you are."
That's the kind of statement that used to be standard American foreign policy. Now it's revolutionary because we spent decades watching politicians grovel before communist regimes instead of holding them accountable for killing our people.
President Trump himself called it a "very big moment" for Cuban Americans. "My commitment to the Cuban people is 'ironclad,'" Trump said. And unlike most political promises, this one came with an actual indictment attached.
The Cuban response? Predictable. The Cuban Embassy dismissed the whole thing as a "hoax" on social media. A hoax. Four dead Americans, an audio confession from the dictator who ordered it, and a federal grand jury indictment — but sure, it's a "hoax." Meanwhile, Cuba's figurehead "president" Miguel Díaz-Canel had the audacity to say, "There is only one thing to be grateful for on that day: that it instilled in the Cubans of that era an anti-imperialist sentiment." He's grateful. For a shootdown that killed four people.
And then came the Democrats. Because of course. Rather than stand with the families of murdered Americans, rather than applaud a long-overdue act of justice, they rushed to the nearest camera to defend a nonagenarian communist dictator. The same party that lectures us daily about "defending democracy" is out here running interference for a regime that's held power for 70 years without a single free election, sitting just 90 miles from American shores.
U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, Republican from Florida, stood with the announcement. Good for her. At least someone in the Senate still thinks murdering Americans should have consequences.
The Castro regime has terrorized the Cuban people and threatened American lives for seven decades. They murdered our citizens and bragged about it on tape. And it took this president — not the last five — to finally say enough.
Four Americans. Thirty years. One president with the guts to act. That's the story.
