Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that murder charges have been filed against former Cuban president Raúl Castro.
The charges are linked to the 1996 shootdown of an American humanitarian aircraft by the Cuban military, which killed three Americans.
Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said: 'For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens.'
'Nations, and their leaders, cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability.'
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon after the indictment was handed down, Trump said there 'won't be an escalation' with Cuba.
'I don't think there needs to be,' he said. 'Look, the place is falling apart. They've really lost control of Cuba.'
Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel blasted the Department of Justices decision to indict the former president calling it 'lies and distorts the events surrounding the downing of the planes and described the charges as a political manoeuvre, devoid of any legal foundation.'
He defended his military's actions in 1996 in a statement on social media, saying they 'acted in legitimate self-defence within its jurisdictional waters, following repeated and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists.'
On the 24th of February 1996, three planes carrying members of Brothers to the Rescue entered an area which was a short distance north of Cuba's capital where they were shot at by the Cuban military.
Armando Alejandre Jr, Carlos Costa, Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales, died after their planes were hit by missiles fired from MiG fighter jets from the Cuban air force.
Source: International Business Times UK
