U.S. Charges Former Cuban President With Murder: Is Castro About To Be Maduroed?

00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, the folks, it is Thursday, May twenty first, and is Castro about to get maduroed with that? Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I guess, Road, if at first you don't succeed with getting Greenland and the Panama Canal, try try again, and let's go with Cuba. This is a it's a it doesn't sound like a big deal, Roads. I don't know if it can get any bigger than this when it comes to the US and Cuba.

00:00:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it's interesting because you mentioned Greenland and you mentioned Panma, Panama. I was thinking Venezuela. I was thinking Iran and now Cuba. It's just how many countries can we be in a massive incursion with I don't even know what the word is to describe, but we're poking everybody. And this is the latest. But this is a big deal. The Department of Justice just charged former Cuban president Raoul Castro with murder murder charges actually seven counts total. He is now facing. He's ninety four years old, turn in ninety five next month. But yeah, this look is is it a way to defend or to at least pave the way to go into further military action with Cuba. This is puzzling as to is it just to get revenge for the deaths of four Americans back in nineteen ninety six, or are there much larger political implications here?

00:01:38
Speaker 1: All right, So let's folks, this has been talked about, has been rumored and been sourced for several weeks now, the idea that the United States was possibly going to seek an indictment against the former president of Cuba. He's the former president. He hasn't been president since twenty eighteen, and before that he served as the defense minister. So it's during that time as defence minister that he is now being indicted. And while he was defense minister, some will certainly a mini and Florida will and many Cuban Americans will remember the incident in which two planes were shot down. These were I guess you could call them. They certainly thought they were on a humanitarian mission. But the Brothers of what was it called Brothers to the to the Rescue I was the name of a group. But they essentially flew planes over the waters off the coast of Florida, off the coast of Cuba, looking for possibly Cubans who were out there. In the water. That's the mission. They did so in nineteen ninety six. According to Cuba, at least they crossed into their airspace one too many times and they were shot down and after that incident four died. Now thirty years later, they'd never indicted Fidel Castro, who was president at the time, but the Defense Minister Ray Wool who served as president, he is the one facing the indictment. Now seven counts altogether, four of them have to do directly with murder because four of them did die in this thing. So that gets us all caught up to where we are now. So you have to ask the question, what's the point. What are we trying to do? A ninety four year old man who has a birthday in a few weeks is going to be ninety five. Indict him for murder? So I guess you could always make the argument we will never forget, we will always go after those we think have done wrong to American citizens. I guess if we just start there with that idea robes that means not necessarily go against the principle at least.

00:03:22
Speaker 2: Sure, But look it's been written about, especially given these charges that President Clinton even considered this at one point or charging some members within the Cuban government, but recognized that it would cause too much of an international issue and decided not to go forward with any sort of criminal charges. But Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, certainly has been holding a lot of press conferences lately since Pam Bondy was or I guess stepped down. But he is certainly doing the President's bidding. And this is something the President has talked about for quite some time. And so yes, he announced for nearly thirty years, the families of four or murdered Americans have waited for justice, and he did have at least one or two a few of the remaining family members from these downed pilots, these down airmen standing behind him making this big announcement in Miami yesterday.

00:04:17
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, there have been people throughout the years. Maybe didn't make all the headlines, but there are people over the years, members of Congress, even some folks of Cuban descent, who have pushed the administrations in years past for this, who have argued that this is something that should be done. And look, there are two sides certainly to this, and not necessarily here in the US, going to take Cuba's side for this, But these were unarmed planes. These weren't fighter planes that were out there. These were aid planes who had no way to fight back, who were taken out by fighter jets. Now also involved in this indictment are those pilots who were a part of that mission, one of them actually who was discovered to be living in the United States Florida, right, And that's how a lot of this ended up getting started. So that part Rhodes, you could argue, is legit, and other administrations have looked into this. The problem we have here is that the administration that's doing it now seems to have its sites set set on more than just getting justice or families.

00:05:15
Speaker 2: Ah. Yes, and that is the concern that this goes beyond that. But that is not what Todd blanche said at his presser yesterday, and he specifically talked about how he said nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them and not face accountability. And then, of course, as we've often heard from so many of President Trump's administration, directly credits President Trump. President Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle. If you kill Americans, we will pursue you no matter who you are, no matter what title you hold, and in this case, no matter how much time has passed. The United States government has not forgotten these innocent men who were shot out of the sky, and so that is what the official word is from the Department of Justice. The Cubans, however, have reacted much differently. So it's so interesting. In this era of social media, we've seen this with the current conflict with Iran. You have basically you're getting immediate public responses from leaders of said nation that we're targeting or that we're at least indicting in this case, certainly Raul Castro. So it was interesting hearing directly from the Cubans in response to this. They're kind of saying, yet, no, they blasted the indictment.

00:06:32
Speaker 1: Of course, they expect them to do so, and they also expect the next thing to be coming because they saw what happened in every other place, and they saw how much this president's our presidents seems to be hell bent on expanding our borders, and he is seemed to be picking on little guys. You could argue, Venezuela, you can't fight back Cuba can't fight back an I can't fight back. Greenland can't fight back. And yes, we're still bogged down. And you could say it's successful in Venezuela. Right, you went and got this guy out. I don't know where we are on the oil and everything else with Venezuela. I know Dercy Rodriguez down there, the acting president, she's pushed back a little bit. How much controlled? Is she a puppet for him? I don't know how that went with Venezuela, but I'm pretty sure Cuba knows how it went with Venezuela. And they are waiting to see robes. Are we gonna go snatch a ninety four year old man out of his hospice bed in the middle of the night. I say that he's not in good shaven. That might not be that bad, but still he's ninety, for y'all.

00:07:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's reportedly looked. They say he still has huge political influence behind the scenes. He certainly handpicked the current president, Miguel Diez Canal, and his grandson is actually very big in politics there as well. With the last name like Castro, that would probably not be surprising to anyone but the president. The current president of Cuba did absolutely describe this as a political maneuver and said it's devoid of any legal foundation, aimed solely at patting the fabricated dossier they meaning the United States used to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba. So they are preparing for the worst case scenario. Not sure how they prepare for it.

00:08:23
Speaker 1: Oh, Cubas is in the weakest position. Some argue it's been in quite some time. The economy is absolutely crumbling, not that it was ever a bustling economy, but there's been essentially a US blockade on it getting energy.

00:08:38
Speaker 2: They've been blackouts, they can't even keep the lights.

00:08:40
Speaker 1: On, so that they're in the weakest position possible. And now this so there will be no resistance. Hell, we can send an uber to pick up Castro probably and it wouldn't be that much resistance. They just can't compete with the US in any military way. But they also don't have influence. They don't necessarily have anything. I mean Iran at least had something they could. Yeah, they got the straight up horror moves they get toy with. Cuba's really got nothing to fight back.

00:09:03
Speaker 2: When Venezuela was their big partner, and we see how that's gone.

00:09:07
Speaker 1: And that was an oil situation. There at least they had that Venezuela had at least some clout or something that the world wanted or needed, or they had something. Cuba just doesn't have anything to say back to the international community, leave us alone or else will well.

00:09:23
Speaker 2: What, Yeah, there really is nothing. So to that point, when we come back, what happens now, we will tell you what Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, and we'll tell you what President Trump himself had to say to reporters about what we will do and whether or not we will go and get Raoul Castro. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and tchij Wow, that was why am I totally always messing up the intros?

00:10:01
Speaker 1: Uh? I know what, I don't think you messed up the intro. I think you simply messed up my names. There's two letters, TJ.

00:10:09
Speaker 2: You know what I was so excited about saying castro. I started saying t Joe, and I knew that wasn't gonna work. So TJ, we are talking about Raoul Castro.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Excited to say castro. Anybody's uttered that phrase? You know what? It's kind of funny.

00:10:23
Speaker 2: I know he excited wasn't the word, but I got verbally excited, like I was ready to go into my next sentence, and my brain got all.

00:10:31
Speaker 1: Jumbled so much so you forgot your name. That's dope.

00:10:34
Speaker 2: My apologies TJ. Borries, But no, we are talking about the United States Department of Justice charging officially Raoul Castro with murder seven counts total, four counts of murder for the four passengers who were aboard that humanitarian aid plane all the way back in nineteen ninety six, one count of conspiracy to kill US nationals, and two counts of destruction of an aircraft. They downed too planes, two unarmed Sesna planes that were providing relief and certainly were they said the Cuban government said had at least dozens of incursions into Cuban airspace. So they were shot down and the four people on board those two planes were killed. So what happens now now that Castro has been indicted, he's facing the most serious charges a person can face. So here's what Attorney General Todd Blanche had to say. There was a warrant issued for his arrest, so we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way. That sounds a bit ominous, and then it sounds a bit like Maduro in the.

00:11:43
Speaker 1: First part of that sounds like bs obviously what he's just gonna roll over and say, yeah, what's up? Yeuy, let me face these charges head.

00:11:51
Speaker 2: On, let me turn myself in.

00:11:52
Speaker 1: Son't know why he said that first part.

00:11:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a little strange.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: But what was the next part about the other way or another way.

00:11:58
Speaker 2: By his own will or by another way.

00:12:01
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's a direct threat correct to Cuba. Okay, I guess this is what we do. Now. We're gonna go snatch leaders from other countries. Okay, because we feel what That's what Robes? Who can do that? Can anybody now in the country decide that Trump has done something according to our laws. We're gonna indict him here. We are going to have a military incursion into Washington, d C. Now, it's not gonna go well for you, But still, Robes, what are we What president are we setting? Is he has everybody else on edge? Should you be nervous, should you be scared? This is gonna get everybody else to behave if you will, because oh Trump, he went and got Madua. I don't want to be sitting over in Brooklyn at the MDC where did he was with Maderra. I don't want to do that though, So are they going to get in line with what he wants? Ropes he hasn't talked about, and I said, I don't know. You correct me if I'm wrong. It seems like he talked about everyboy is the fifty first state. But this idea of just expanding our borders in our territory and our ownership. I mean, he's he's operating the country, I guess, like a.

00:13:11
Speaker 2: Businessman, like the Roman Empire, and he's putting.

00:13:14
Speaker 1: His name on everything. The Trump, this, the Trump, that, the Trump. This country has become Trump's empire. It really has, and he's expanding or seems to want to expand his empire. He has said it. I'm not putting words in this man's mouth.

00:13:28
Speaker 2: Canada he wants to. He wants to bring Canada into the United States, for God's sake.

00:13:33
Speaker 1: I don't think he was joking.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: I don't think he was either throughout.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: Any of this stuff. But he was unsuccessful in Panama, at least unsuccessful with Greenland. What's next? I just wasn't that We're not Venezuela at least, what's the update there. I mean, they're supposed to be doing what we want them to do, but they that seems to be kind of over at least as far as us having a confrontation.

00:13:55
Speaker 2: With because they're doing what we want.

00:13:58
Speaker 1: That we seem to have that under control. So I don't know. Somebody might be looking at this and go, way to go Trump, other presidents should have done this, and now everybody needs to get in line.

00:14:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, by and look, we know Trump has been ambiguous by design, and certainly Todd Blanche what he said was a threat, but an ambiguous one. And when President Trump was directly asked about this yesterday by reporters and they specifically asked, are you going to go in and get Raoul Castro like you did Maduro? And his answer was, I don't want to say that, so it's a non answer, and he went on to say there won't be an escalation, but he said because I don't think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart. It's a mess, basically saying we don't have to because it's already so screwed up that we'll just be able to do whatever we want. We won't actually have to escalate because they can't escalate things, is what the inference is. They have no ability to escalate the situation. We can walk in and do whatever we want. As you pointed out, we could send an uber to go get Castro and there's really nothing anyone's probably militarily going to be able to do about it.

00:15:06
Speaker 1: What are you going to do? Yeah, I mean there was some what there was one pilot that was injured during the Maduro operation, but otherwise most Americans came out unscathed.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: Three that yes, it was thirty two was it thirty two Venezuelan guards were killed basically trying weren't there a Cuban?

00:15:26
Speaker 1: There was?

00:15:27
Speaker 2: And so look, with all of that, he doesn't have to threaten military action because there really isn't anything to anyone to fight. And in fact, he's described his plans for Cuba as a friendly takeover. That's where we are, and this could be the entrance or the reason behind we can defend our actions legally saying we're going in to get Castro and then voila, we take over.

00:15:54
Speaker 1: I mean he's got I mean, he's got a he's got a playbook for this now that I think he was. They worked in Venezuela. This is what you do, I mean they are I mean, I don't know anything about the Cuban government, but they are paying attention to this. Where is mister Castro now? I mean where or where are they keeping him? Are they trying to keep him protected? They keeping him safe? They he's night. We saw the video I'll give I can't remember which comedian it was on the Daily Show. They showed video of him being helped as he was walking. The person helping him was seventy something like, you're so old that the person helping you was all so elderly. And they said, you can't find a jury of his peers. Where are you gonna get one? O ouiji board? That was the joke they used. And it makes sense, Robes, I understand, but Robes, we don't even in this country go after a ninety five year old because on humanitary where they calls it a compassionate release, I.

00:16:51
Speaker 2: Was cruel and unusual. I mean, oh compassionate, really compassionate release symbolic.

00:16:56
Speaker 1: They say this regime was horrific and it ain't ever too late to bring these folks to justice. So the United States has indicted a Castro.

00:17:03
Speaker 2: All right, well, we will see just how they follow up on these murder charges. But really I guess only time will tell. Because of the open ended we don't know how this is all going to end press conference that was given, but we will of course keep our eye on this developing story. As always, we appreciate you. I'm Amy roback alongside TJ. Holmes. We will talk to you soon