‘Comrade Raul’: Beijing defends Cuba’s ex-leader over Florida murder warrant

China on Wednesday condemned an arrest warrant issued in the US state of Florida for former Cuban president Raul Castro over the 1996 downing of two civilian planes, accusing the United States of using the courts to pressure Havana.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was asked about the warrant by the state-run Global Times at a regular briefing in Beijing. She referred to the 95-year-old as “comrade Raul Castro”, a “venerated” leader held in high international esteem.

Mao said China opposed the “abuse of judicial measures to pressure Cuba” and called on the US to “immediately stop its blockade and any other form of coercion and pressure against Cuba”.

A state judge in Miami signed the no-bond warrant on Friday, charging Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced plans to issue the warrant on Monday.

The charge relates to the February 1996 attack on two Cessna aircraft flown by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based exile group that searched for Cuban migrants lost at sea. The incident killed all four men on board the civilian aircraft, including three US citizens and a US legal resident.

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The warrant is separate from a federal indictment unsealed in May. It charged Castro, Cuba’s defence minister at the time, and five former military officers with conspiracy to kill US nationals, destruction of aircraft and four counts of murder.

Federal prosecutors allege that Cuban fighter jets fired air-to-air missiles at the two planes over international waters without warning. According to the indictment, Cuban agents who infiltrated the group passed details of its flights to Havana before the attack.

Because the planes were downed outside US territory, Florida prosecutors built the state case on that espionage. The affidavit says Cuban spies transmitted flight data and monitored the naval station in Key West, which prosecutors argue is enough to establish that the conspiracy took place in Florida.

“Raul Castro ordered the murder of four Floridians in cold blood, and Florida will never stop pursuing accountability for that communist conspiracy,” Uthmeier said in a statement.

Uthmeier acknowledged that Castro was unlikely to travel to Miami. He said the charges would still restrict the former leader’s movements, since a trip to any country with a US extradition treaty could lead to his arrest.

Cuban president calls warrant a ‘pathetic Miami circus’

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel called the warrant a “pathetic Miami circus” with an electoral motive. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described it as a “sterile manoeuvre” by anti-Cuban politicians in South Florida.

Havana has long maintained that Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based exile group, repeatedly violated Cuban airspace and that its forces acted in defence of national sovereignty.

The announcement fell on the first day of early voting in Miami-Dade County for the US midterm elections. Uthmeier faces Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez in the November race for lawyer general, and his rival said the charges were politically motivated.

Beijing has pledged to do what it can for Cuba as a US oil blockade imposed in January, on top of the decades-old trade embargo, leaves the island short of fuel.

The shortage has also disrupted Air China’s Beijing-Havana route, which has struggled since Cuban airports ran out of jet fuel in February. The Chinese embassy in Havana arranged an extra flight this week for passengers stranded by cancellations.

The UN General Assembly is due to vote next week on Cuba’s annual resolution calling for an end to the US trade embargo. Last year it passed by 165 votes to seven, with China among those in favour.