The acting attorney general. Todd Blanche, is speaking at a news conference about the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.
“There’s a reason why myself. the leadership are here and not in New York to announce this indictment,” said Blanche from Miami, Florida. “The community here understands the Cuban regime better than anyone in America. Many families know the cost of oppression.”
Today’s indictment makes a statement that those who lost their lives 30 years ago have not been forgotten, he said.
In a statement posted on the website of Cuba’s state-controlled newspaper. Granma, the Cuban government rejected the US indictment of Raúl Castro for killing four Cuban American activists in the 1996 downing of two civilian planes.
The statement, which was also posted on the Cuban ministry of foreign affairs website in Spanish but not in English, went on to accuse the US government of hypocrisy, given that the indictment was sought after the Trump administration has carried out nearly 200 “extrajudicial executions” of suspected drug smugglers, in 58 airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean. the Pacific since last September.
Instead of the government statement. the English-language version of Granma currently features a call, from the National Bureau of the Young Communists League, for Cubans take part in a national “day of celebration for Raúl’s 95th birthday” on 3 June.
US indicts former Cuban president Raúl Castro as it intensifies pressure. The US has issued a federal criminal indictment against Raúl Castro, Cuba ’s former president, on Wednesday,. five others in a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign to oust the country’s six-decade-old communist regime.
Alongside his usual boastful claims that Iran’s navy. air force are “gone”, Trump said the only question now is whether the United States goes back to finish the job or if Iran will sign a document. He also said there would be no escalation with Cuba.
Netanyahu “will do whatever I want him to do”, says Trump when asked about Israel holding off on striking Iran. Trump also cited a poll that gave him 99% approval in Israel. The Guardian US has not yet verified this poll. “I could run for prime minister, so maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel. run for prime minister,” he said.
January 6 police officers sue Trump over $1.8bn fund, alleging “presidential corruption”. Two police officers who clashed with rioters at the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection in 2021 have sued Donald Trump over plans to create a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund.
Barney Frank, one of first out gay members of Congress, dies aged 86. The former US representative died on Tuesday night.
Trump remarked on the IRS settlement, saying that he was suing the agency for a lot of reasons.
“One of the reasons is they released my tax returns, which you’re not allowed to do,” he said. “Now they show I pay a lot of tax. I may even release my current returns because they show I pay a lot of money,. they’re not supposed to do that.”
Raúl Castro’s indictment comes at a time when tensions between Cuba and the US are already high.
Castro is facing the type of indictment that led to the abduction of the Venezuelan leader. Nicolás Maduro, in January by US forces.
Although Castro is officially retired, he remains the most potent figure in Cuban politics after the death of his brother, Fidel, in 2016,. by targeting him Washington appears to be heaping pressure on Cuba’s communist leadership at the end of an already extraordinarily intense week.
The indictment has come days after the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, flew into Havana for a meeting with the Cuban ex-president’s grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro. senior government figures.
Ratcliffe’s arrival in turn occurred after a night in which protests spread across the island’s capital. as people struggled with 22-hour blackouts. Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba’s energy minister, had earlier admitted the island was out of fuel oil. “We have absolutely nothing,” he told state television.
For the last four months the US has imposed a strict oil blockade on Cuba. allowing only one Russian crude carrier, the Anatoly Kolodkin, in for what Trump claimed were humanitarian reasons.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday afternoon. after the indictment against Raúl Castro was announced in Miami, Trump said there would be no escalation with Cuba.
“There won’t be an escalation. I don’t think there needs to be,” said Trump. “Look, the place is falling apart. They’ve really lost control of Cuba.”
When asked if there would be a Maduro-style arrest, he said: “I don’t want to say that.”
Progressive Chris Rabb wins closely watched Democratic primary in Pennsylvania: ‘We are indomitable’
Chris Rabb. an unflinching progressive state representative, declared his campaign for Pennsylvania’s third congressional district was “indomitable” after winning the Democratic primary in a race that became a proxy battle over the direction of the Democratic party.
In a significant victory for the party’s left wing, Rabb took roughly 45% of the vote in Tuesday’s contest, comfortably ahead of the early frontrunner, state senator Sharif Street, who garnered under 30%,. surgeon Ala Stanford.
Rabb addressed supporters, in an emotional victory speech, who had powered a grassroots campaign backed by the Philadelphia Democratic Socialists of America. the Working Families party. “I have been critiqued along this campaign for being too radical, being too bold,” he told the crowd. “They ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Framing his win as a populist breakthrough. Rabb called the result “a triumph of the many over the money” before issuing a warning to those who might seek to undermine the movement his campaign had built. “They’re going to try and tear us apart. We’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “We are indomitable.”
The district. which includes most of Philadelphia’s urban core, is the bluest in the US: Kamala Harris won 88% of its votes in the 2024 presidential election, as the rest of the country re-elected Donald Trump.
When asked by an NBC reporter if the announcement of the indictment is partly a pretext to push for regime change in Cuba, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said: “We turned in an indictment. that’s what we are here to talk about. If people want to speculate, I don’t care.”
Ashley Moody, a senator from Florida, read out the penalty sheet for Raúl Castro, as advised by the southern district of Florida, US district court: one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, two counts for destruction of aircraft. four counts of murder.
The FBI conducted 16 cases to bring this indictment together, said Christopher Raia, the FBI’s deputy director.
The investigators reopened many cold cases over 30 years.
“To anyone who spies on our country or who harms our citizens. remember the FBI has a long memory,” said Raia. “We will come after you.”
“According to the indictment, Raúl Castro, then minister of the Cuban revolutionary armed forces, authorized. oversaw a military command that ended with Cuban fighter jets firing air-to-air missiles at civilian aircraft over international waters,” said Jason Reding Quinones, the US attorney for the southern district of Florida.
Those missiles killed all onboard, and for 30 years those families have waited for accountability, he said.
“This is the first time in almost 70 years. a senior leader in the Cuban regime has been charged in the US for acts of violence resulting in the death of Americans,” he said.
The acting attorney general. Todd Blanche, is speaking at a news conference about the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.
“There’s a reason why myself. the leadership are here and not in New York to announce this indictment,” said Blanche from Miami, Florida. “The community here understands the Cuban regime better than anyone in America. Many families know the cost of oppression.”
Today’s indictment makes a statement that those who lost their lives 30 years ago have not been forgotten, he said.
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