For more on Cuba, we encourage our readers to see the MPP document “Cuba Yes, Yankees No! Yankees Go Home!” appearing here.
The Justice Department unsealed an indictment against former President of Cuba Raúl Castro and five Cuban military pilots on Wednesday (05/20), accusing them of murder for their alleged involvement in downing two planes operated by the US-backed, anti-Cuban government organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996. According to the indictment, “if convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment.”
The Cuban air force shot down Brothers to the Rescue’s two planes in 1996 because the planes entered Cuban airspace to drop anti-government leaflets onto Havana. In the months leading up to the incident, the planes infiltrated Cuban airspace 25 times after Cuban authorities had instructed them not to fly into Cuban airspace. Brothers to the Rescue’s founder and leader is José Basulto, a self-admitted CIA operative involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion who also supported the Contras, a coalition of US-backed, far-right death squads that enacted genocide against the Nicaraguan people in the 1980s.
Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said that “any attempt to use this excuse for action against these comrades within Cuba will be met with fierce resistance from the Cuban people.”
On May 17, monopoly outlet Axios released a report based on information “leaked” from U.S. intelligence claiming that Cuba has acquired over 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and that Iranian military advisers are in Havana to assist Cuban officials. Other monopoly media outlets have been unable to verify the contents or source of the alleged leak.
The US-imposed fuel blockade against Cuba is still in effect and Cuba is officially out of diesel and oil. Hospitals, workplaces, and schools have shut down or significantly reduced their hours of operation. Several patients have died due to the effects of the blockade on hospitals. Journalists have reported that the rate of child malnutrition in Cuba is rising and access to water is increasingly limited.
US imperialism mobilized The USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group into the Caribbean Sea on May 20, according to US Southern Command, with the aim of “ensuring stability and defending democracy.” U.S. military intelligence flights near Cuba have also increased in recent months, according to reports citing public flight-tracking data.
In response to the US’s threats to invade Cuba, Cuba has conducted military drills and organized militias.
Castro’s indictment follows the US imperialist intervention playbook, mirroring the US’s indictments of Venezuelan government officials on baseless charges that preceded and justified US military aggression against Venezuela and concluded with the kidnapping of President Maduro. US imperialism’s attempts to dominate Cuba are part of the US’s broader strategy to shore up it’s domination of Latin America and it’s hemisphere as a way to offset the effects of the imperialist economic crisis and the increased inter-imperialist contention with Chinese social-imperialism and Russian imperialism.
Image: The USS Gridley passing through the Strait of Magellan as part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, April 26, 2026. Credit: United States Navy.
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