US planning to charge ex-Cuban leader Raúl Castro

Castro, 94, stepped down as Cuban Communist Party leader in 2021, ending his family's more than half a century in power. He led the country for 15 years, stepping in after his brother, Fidel, resigned.

Asked on Friday about the reported indictment plan, President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One: "I'll let DoJ comment on it." He added: "But [Cubans] need help, as you know. And you talk about a declining country. They are really a nation, a country in decline."

Trump has issued an oil blockade against Cuba, which has exacerbated fuel shortages. This week the island's energy minister acknowledged that Cuba has, in essence, run out of fuel oil.

Potential charges against Raúl Castro were unclear, but officials said the investigation centred on an attack on two small planes, which happened on 24 February 1996 while Fidel was president and Raúl was armed forces minister. Four people aboard were killed in the incident.

The Cuban government - including Fidel Castro, who died in 2016 - said Brothers to the Rescue had repeatedly violated Cuban airspace, although the International Civil Aviation Organization found the attack took place over international waters.

In March, the attorney general in Florida announced in a news conference that the state was reopening an investigation into Raúl Castro's alleged role in the incident. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis praised the possible criminal charges on Friday, calling them "long overdue".

Cuba has not officially commented on the reports of an indictment, but Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez struck a defiant tone on Friday. In order for charges to be filed, prosecutors would have to convince a grand jury, made up of members of the public, that probable cause exists to believe a crime has been committed.

"If and when there's a time to talk about about that, we will, obviously," Blanche told Fox News. On Thursday, CIA director John Ratcliffe met his Cuban counterpart at the interior ministry in Havana. Raúl Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro, was at the meeting.

It came after American officials renewed an offer of $100m (£74m) of aid to ease the effects of its oil blockade.

William LeoGrande, professor of Latin American politics at the American University in Washington, told the BBC the potential indictment was "one more element of the pressure campaign" that Trump has kept up since returning to office last year.

"If the Cuban economy and social order collapses, it would actually be a disaster for the United States, because it's likely to touch off a mass migration crisis," the professor said.