Former Cuban President Raul Castro indicted in the United States
The move against Cuba comes months after President Trump captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a dramatic raid
Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been indicted in the United States.
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In a move that marks an escalation in Washington's pressure campaign against the Caribbean island's communist government.
Cuba's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment comes as US President Donald Trump has pushed for a regime change in Cuba, where Castro's communists have been in charge since his late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
The US has effectively blockaded Cuba by threatening sanctions on countries supplying it with fuel, triggering power outages and exacerbating its worse crisis in decades.
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Castro, 94, served as Cuba’s defense minister before assuming the presidency in 2008 after his brother fell ill. Fidel died in 2016.
Raul Castro stepped down from the presidency in 2018 but remains a powerful figure in Cuba.
Havana has not commented directly on the threat of an indictment, though Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed defiance in public comments on May 15.
Rodriguez said: “Despite the (U.S.) embargo, sanctions and threats of the use of force, Cuba continues on a path of sovereignty towards its socialist development."
Born in 1931, Raul Castro was a key figure alongside his older brother in the guerrilla war that toppled US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s and defeated the US-organized Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
The filing of the criminal case against Castro recalls the earlier drug-trafficking indictment of imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro was a key ally of Cuba.
The US military captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a dramatic raid on January 3. The pair were brought to New York to face charges. Maduro has pleaded not guilty.