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1h ago

Florida Secures No-Bond Arrest Warrant for Raúl Castro

A no-bond state warrant gives Florida a distinct prosecutorial route with authority to seek extradition if Castro is arrested elsewhere.

FILE - Cuba's acting President Raul Castro waves to journalists in front the Museum of the Revolution in Havana on March 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano, File)
The state affidavit alleges that Cuban intelligence agents who infiltrated the Miami-based group relayed flight information to Cuba. It also alleges Castro, then Cuba’s defense minister and first vice president, was a senior decision-maker in the chain of command that authorized the attack. (Getty Images)
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The state affidavit alleges that Cuban intelligence agents who infiltrated the Miami-based group relayed flight information to Cuba. It also alleges Castro, then Cuba’s defense minister and first vice president, was a senior decision-maker in the chain of command that authorized the attack. (Getty Images)

Overview

  • Florida obtained a no-bond arrest warrant charging Raúl Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, an action announced Monday after a Miami-Dade judge found probable cause.
  • The probable-cause affidavit says Castro, then Cuba’s defense minister and first vice president, gave standing orders to senior military leaders to shoot down Brothers to the Rescue planes and that Cuban intelligence operatives in South Florida passed flight information to Havana.
  • The Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will lead the multi-circuit case, which prosecutors say builds on the federal indictment unsealed in May and could include further charges.
  • Officials said the warrant allows Florida to seek full extradition if Castro is arrested outside the state, but they acknowledge his presence in Cuba, advanced age and health and geopolitical limits make an immediate U.S. court appearance uncertain.
  • The warrant responds to the Feb. 24, 1996 shootdown that killed four men and reflects decades-long demands from victims’ families and the Cuban-American community for accountability, while adding a parallel state legal track to the existing federal case.