My Philly Daily On Crime Column: The U.S. Should Capture And Arrest Raul Castro

Philly Daily ran my On Crime column today on why we should capture and arrest Raul Castro.

You can read the column via the link below or the following text:

Paul Davis: U.S. should capture and arrest Raul Castro – Philly Daily  

At a press conference on January 3^rd President Donald Trump announced the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following a successful overnight joint U.S. military/U.S. law enforcement extraction in Venezuela's capital city of Caracas.

"Last night and early today, at my direction, the United States armed forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela. It was an operation against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice," Trump said during a midday news conference from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.  

President Trump noted that both Maduro and his also-captured wife, Cilia Flores de Maduro, will now face criminal court proceedings on multiple federal charges, including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses.

This was an amazing, near-perfect operation, and the result was not only Maduro’s capture and arrest, but it also pivoted Venezuela towards America and away from Communist China and Cuba.

Which brings me to Cuba.

President Trump should send in the troops to Cuba and arrest Raul Castro for murder.

This past May the U.S. Justice Department announced the unsealing of a superseding indictment charging Cuban Communist leader Raul Castro and other Cuban officials for their alleged roles in the February 24, 1996 shoot‑down of two unarmed U.S. civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR), also known as Hermanos al Rescate, over international waters.

“Over three decades later, we are committed to holding those accountable for the murders of four brave Americans: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña, and Pablo Morales,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in the United States for alleged acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens. President Trump and this Justice Department are committed to restoring a simple principle: if you kill Americans, we will pursue you. No matter who you are. No matter what title you hold.”

FBI Director Kash Patel added, “Today’s superseding indictment of Raul Castro and five Castro regime co-defendants is a major step toward accountability in the 1996 murders of four Brothers to the Rescue members - including three U.S citizens - Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandro Jr, Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales. For 30 years these families have waited for answers - and this FBI never forgot. We will continue working with our Justice Department partners to bring to justice those who attacked our civilians.”

According to the Justice Department, BTTR was an organization based in Miami that conducted humanitarian flight operations across the Florida Straits to search for Cuban migrants in distress. As alleged, beginning in the early 1990s, Cuban intelligence agents infiltrated the organization and relayed detailed information about its flight operations back to the Cuban government. These reports were allegedly used by military leadership in planning the Feb. 24, 1996 operation.

The superseding indictment charges conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, two counts of destruction of aircraft, and four counts of murder.

According to the allegations, on Feb. 24, 1996, three BTTR aircraft flew from South Florida toward Cuba. Cuban military fighter jets under the chain of command overseen by Raul Castro fired air‑to‑air missiles at two unarmed civilian Cessna aircraft — destroying them without warning while they were flying outside Cuban territory, killing four U.S. nationals, including three U.S. citizens: Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandre Jr., Mario de la Peña and Pablo Morales.

The indictment further alleges that, in the weeks prior to the attack, Cuban military pilots conducted training exercises designed to locate and intercept slow‑moving civilian aircraft. On the day of the incident, three BTTR planes departed from Opa‑locka Airport for a planned humanitarian flight south of the 24th parallel. Two of the aircraft — tail numbers N2456S and N5485S — were allegedly targeted and shot down in international airspace, resulting in the deaths of all four victims.

The Justice Department stated that if convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of death or life imprisonment on the murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals counts.

Although we were unable to bring Raul Castro’s older brother, Communist dictator Fidel Castro, to justice during his long and murderous lifetime (although I suspect he met heavenly justice), we have the opportunity to bring Raul Castro to justice.

And a joint U.S. military/U.S. law enforcement extraction operation to capture and arrest Raul Castro will, I believe, be the proverbial last nail in the coffin of Cuba’s failed Communist government.

Like Venezuela, Cuba will become an ally of the United States. Then the island will prosper and the people will finally live free.

Paul Davis’s On Crime column appears here each week. He is also a contributor to Broad + Liberty and Counterterrorism magazine. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.