Florida files arrest warrant for Raúl Castro, 30 years after Brothers to the Rescue shooting

MIAMI, Florida. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that the state has obtained an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro in connection with the 1996 Brotherhood to the Rescue shootings — nearly 30 years after four men were killed.

“It was not an accident. What happened was murder,” Uthmeier said at a news conference at Florida International University School of Law. “What happened? It was murder. The evidence clearly shows there was a conspiracy.”

The announcement was made in the FIU’s Campora courtroom, named in honor of the four men killed in the shooting: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandro Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.

Castro, 95, is charged with first-degree murder and allegedly ordered the killings. Court documents allege that Cuban spies monitored the Key West naval base and transmitted flight data before the attack. Castro already faces a federal indictment for the same incident, announced in May.

“For more than 30 years, government officials did nothing,” Uthmeier said. “Today the wait is over.”