Former Cuban President Raul Castro Charged with Murder in U.S.

JAKARTA - Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been charged in the United States with murder, according to court records on Wednesday, a major escalation in Washington's campaign of pressure against the communist government in the country.

The indictment marks a new low in relations between the two long-time Cold War rivals, Al Arabiya reported from Reuters (21/5).

Details of the charges were not immediately available.

An official at the US Department of Justice told Reuters last week on condition of anonymity that the indictment against him was expected to be based on a 1996 incident in which a Cuban jet shot down a plane operated by a group of Cuban refugees.

The indictment comes as US President Donald Trump has been pushing for regime change in Cuba, where communist Castro has ruled since his late brother Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1959.

Castro, 94, last appeared in public in Cuba earlier this month, and there is no evidence he has left the island or that the government would allow him to be extradited.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Previously, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday that the country did not pose a threat.

In a statement Wednesday morning, President Trump called Cuba a "rogue nation that protects a hostile foreign military" and framed his administration's actions on the Caribbean island as part of a broader effort to expand U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.

"From the beaches of Havana to the shores of the Panama Canal, we will repel lawless forces, crime, and foreign interference," President Trump said at an event at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.

After coming to power, Fidel Castro forged an alliance with the Soviet Union, then seized US businesses and properties. Since then, the US has maintained an economic embargo on the country of around 10 million people.

The two sides have spoken periodically for years. Diplomatic relations improved during the tenure of former Democratic President Barack Obama, but President Trump, a Republican, has taken a harder line.