Threatened indictment of Raúl Castro ratchets up US pressure on Cuba

Tensions between Cuba and US seem set to rise further amid reports that Raúl Castro , the country’s 94-year-old former president, may soon face the type of indictment that led to the US abduction of the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, in January. Although Raúl is officially retired, he remains the most potent figure in Cuban politics following the death of his brother Fidel in 2016, and 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, which has not been officially confirmed and would require confirmation by a grand jury, appears to be linked to the 1996 downing of two small planes belonging to a Cuban exile group called Brothers to the Rescue . The aircraft, which had been searching for rafters fleeing across the Florida straits, had flown over Havana to drop leaflets when they were intercepted by a Cuban jet. “You can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich,” said Pedro Freyre, a leading Cuban American lawyer in Miami. Reports of the possible indictment came the day after the CIA director, John Ratcliffe flew into Havana for a meeting with the Cuban ex-president’s grandson Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro and 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. …