May 22, 2026
On May 20, U.S. government prosecutors indicted Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz, a lifelong Cuban revolutionary and former president of Cuba, for murder. The charges stem from the 1996 shooting down of two planes operated by a counterrevolutionary terrorist group, the Miami-based “Brothers to the Rescue.” Four people died in the downing of the planes, which the U.S. Justice Department claims was ordered by Raúl Castro, who will be 95 years old on June 3.
Che Guevara, Raúl Castro and Vilma Espín.
The International Action Center rejects this effort to characterize Raúl as a murderer. We regard him as a true revolutionary hero. Raúl was with his brother Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz when the July 26th Movement attacked the Moncada Barracks in 1953. This attack, regarded as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, was brutally crushed, and Fidel, Raúl and others were sent to prison by the U.S.-backed repressive dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
After being released from prison in 1955, Fidel and Raúl joined others, including Che Guevara, on the yacht Granma, which sailed from Mexico to Cuba in 1956. Those who survived the assault by Batista’s forces, including Fidel, Raúl and Che, formed the guerrilla army of the Revolution, which triumphed on Jan. 1, 1959.
After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl held the important position of minister of the Armed Forces from 1959-2008. In 2006, as Fidel was ailing, Raúl became president of Cuba, in which office he served the Revolution until 2018. He was First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 2011-2021. Although he retired from those positions, which are now held by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, he retains the title of Army General.
We agree with the Cuban government that the U.S. charges against Raúl represent “a despicable and infamous act of political provocation” and a pretext for a U.S. invasion of the island of 11 million people. As the revolutionary government points out, Cuba had issued a number of formal complaints to the U.S. government about the intrusions into its airspace by “Brothers to the Rescue.”
We salute the Cuban Revolution, in the year of the centenary of the birth of Fidel, who was born August 13, 1926. And we are in solidarity with the Cuban government’s statement that: “The Cuban people reaffirm their unwavering decision to defend the Homeland and its Socialist Revolution and, with the greatest strength and firmness, their unrestricted and unchanging support for Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, Leader of the Cuban Revolution.” (Read the full statement at https://iacenter.org/2026/05/23/cuba-condemns-the-despicable-accusation-against-the-leader-of-the-revolution/)
Long live Raúl Castro Ruz! U.S hands off Cuba!
