Miami-Dade Mayor Backs Raul Castro Indictment Over 1996 Brothers to the Rescue Shoot-down

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has welcomed the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, saying it moves the families of four Brothers to the Rescue victims closer to the accountability they have sought since 1996.

In a statement released Tuesday, Levine Cava said she remains alongside the relatives of Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales. The four men died on February 24, 1996, after Cuban military aircraft brought down their unarmed humanitarian planes over international waters.

The mayor referred to the men as “sons of our community” and said they were killed in cold blood. She said their families have spent almost 30 years carrying both sorrow and anger while those accused of responsibility allegedly escaped justice.

“Today, with the indictment of Raúl Castro, the wheels of justice — however long they have turned — have begun to move,” Levine Cava said.

The United States Department of Justice announced the indictment in connection with the destruction of two civilian aircraft flown by Brothers to the Rescue. The organisation, based in Miami, carried out humanitarian flights across the Florida Straits to look for Cuban migrants who were in danger at sea.

Levine Cava said the deaths continue to carry deep meaning for Miami-Dade’s Cuban exile community, which she described as among the world’s largest. She said that community has been shaped by generations of displacement and political repression.

“Our neighbors, our colleagues, and our friends are among the hundreds of thousands who fled tyranny, built new lives here, and never stopped pursuing the freedom and dignity that was stripped from them and their families,” she said.

She also praised members of Brothers to the Rescue as “heroes,” noting that their missions were unarmed and aimed at helping people in distress on open water.

“The four men killed that February day died while carrying out an act of profound humanity,” Levine Cava said. “They deserved justice then. Their families deserve it now.”

Levine Cava said no court case can restore the lives lost or erase three decades of pain, but she stressed that accountability and truth still matter. She pledged that Miami-Dade would continue standing with the victims’ families and with the Cuban-American community in the pursuit of justice.