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President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is expected to indict former Cuban President Raul Castro on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital.
Fox News additionally learned that a scheduled press conference in Miami on Wednesday is in connection with efforts to indict the former communist leader Raul Castro, per law enforcement sources familiar with the situation.
When asked whether Castro would be indicted, a DOJ Office of Public Affairs Director Emily Covington told Fox News Digital the department would not “comment on rumors.”
Castro, 94, is the younger brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Raul Castro served as Cuba’s president from 2008 to 2018.
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Just the News’ John Soloman first reported the expected indictment on Real Americas Voice on Monday, saying the indictment would be unsealed Wednesday.
Any indictment would require approval from a federal grand jury.
The White House referred Fox News Digital to the DOJ for comment on the matter.
Sources pointed Fox News Digital to a Department of Justice advisory Tuesday that announced a Miami press conference “in conjunction with a ceremony to honor the victims of the Brothers to the Rescue Murders of 1996.”
Cuban fighter jets shot down two civilian planes connected to a Miami-based Cuban exile group on Feb. 24, 1996, killing four men. The U.S. has long maintained the planes were in international airspace, with the incident becoming a major flashpoint in U.S.-Cuba relations.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quinones, FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia, Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier are expected to attend Wednesday’s press conference in Miami.
The potential charges against Castro come after CIA Director John Ratcliffe met last Thursday with counterparts from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior during a high-level visit to the island nation.
During his meeting Thursday, Ratcliffe met with Cuban officials including Raulito Rodriguez Castro, Interior Minister Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services in Havana to “personally deliver President Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.”
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Trump has joked the U.S. would be “taking over” Cuba “almost immediately.” “Cuba’s got problems. We’ll finish one first. I like to finish a job,” he added this month.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz and Fox New’s Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
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