China has criticized the United States over an arrest warrant issued in Florida for former Cuban president Raul Castro, related to the 1996 downing of two civilian planes. The warrant, signed last Friday by a Miami state judge, charges the 95-year-old Castro with conspiracy to commit murder. China accused Washington of using judicial measures to exert political pressure on Havana and called for an immediate end to the U.S. blockade and other coercive actions against Cuba.
The charges pertain to an incident in February 1996, when Cuban fighter jets shot down two Cessna aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based exile group that conducted searches for Cuban migrants lost at sea. The attack resulted in the deaths of all four individuals aboard the planes, including three U.S. citizens and one U.S. legal resident. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced plans to issue the warrant earlier this week, emphasizing that Castro ordered the killings and asserting that Florida will continue to seek accountability.
A separate federal indictment unsealed in May also named Castro, who was Cuba’s defense minister at the time, along with five former military officers. The indictment charged them with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder. U.S. prosecutors allege that Cuban forces fired on the civilian planes without warning in international waters, and that Cuban agents had infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue, relaying flight information to Havana before the attack.
Florida authorities have built their case on claims that Cuban spies transmitted details of the flights and monitored a U.S. naval station in Key West, asserting jurisdiction based on this espionage activity conducted within the state. Uthmeier acknowledged that Castro was unlikely to appear in Miami but noted that the warrant could limit Castro’s travel to countries that have extradition treaties with the United States.
Cuban officials dismissed the warrant as politically motivated. President Miguel Diaz-Canel described it as a “pathetic Miami circus” with electoral ambitions, while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called it a “sterile maneuver” orchestrated by anti-Cuban politicians in South Florida. Havana has maintained that Brothers to the Rescue repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and that the military response was a defense of its sovereignty.
China, a strong ally of Cuba, reiterated its opposition to what it described as judicial abuse and coercion by the United States. The Chinese foreign ministry highlighted Raul Castro’s standing in the international community and pledged continued support for Cuba amid ongoing challenges. The island nation has faced a worsening fuel shortage due to a U.S. oil blockade imposed in January, compounded by a longstanding trade embargo.
The fuel scarcity has disrupted Air China’s Beijing-Havana route, leading to cancellations after Cuban airports ran out of jet fuel earlier this year. The Chinese embassy in Havana arranged an additional flight this week to assist stranded passengers. Meanwhile, the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to vote next week on Cuba’s annual resolution urging an end to the U.S. trade embargo, a motion that passed last year with broad international support, including from China.