As the United States increases pressure on Cuba's communist government, it is also seeking to hold the island's former leader accountable for an attack that killed four people.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) recently announced additional charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro (pictured above) related to the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles.
The state charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder is based largely on a federal indictment announced in May that included charges of murder and destruction of an airplane.
However, Castro, 95, remains on the communist-ruled island and is unlikely to appear in a U.S. courtroom. Humberto Fontova, an anti-communist activist who fled Cuba in 1961 and has authored several books on the regime, views the indictment as little more than campaign rhetoric.
"It's to keep the Cuban-American community from defecting," he tells AFN.
The latest charges come amid a much longer conflict between the two countries over communism, human rights, immigration and political power.
The Trump administration has tightened economic sanctions and taken steps to restrict fuel supplies reaching the island in an effort to push Cuba toward political freedom, respect for human rights and economic reform.
Those measures come as Cuba faces serious economic problems, including fuel shortages, prolonged power outages and shortages of basic goods. Havana, meanwhile, accuses Washington of trying to force the country to abandon its political system, while critics of the U.S. approach warn that further restrictions could worsen the suffering of ordinary Cubans.
Although the two governments have maintained some communication, Cuba's diplomatic representative said in early October that they were not engaged in formal negotiations.
President Donald Trump has publicly raised the possibility of a U.S. invasion of Cuba, but his administration's broader campaign aims to put enough pressure on the communist government to force major changes.
Fontova, however, does not believe Cuba's leaders will voluntarily surrender power, making a violent end to the regime difficult to envision without outside military intervention.
"As they say, socialism, you can vote your way in, but you've got to shoot your way out," he notes. "The people that run Cuba are not going to give up without a shootout … and I can't see them giving up their power without a military invasion."
Cuban officials have warned that they are preparing to defend the country against potential U.S. military action.
An invasion would carry enormous risks, including American casualties, civilian deaths, a possible wave of Cuban refugees and the challenge of governing or stabilizing the country afterward, so Fontova doubts most Americans would support another military operation, along with the inevitable refugee crisis he believes would follow.
