Raul Castro, former president of Cuba and former first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba showed up in public amidst threats of arrest from the United States of America.
Raul, brother to former Cuban leader and legend Fidel Castro attended his birthday party at the Ministry of Interior Affairs in Havana, on the evening of Friday, June 5, 2026.
The USA has had a bitter relationship with Cuba for close to seven decades since the success of the 1959 cuban revolution led by the Castro brothers, and other notable guerrillas like Che Guevara.
The revolution led to the nationalisation of American firms in the country, a close military alliance with USSR, China and North Korea, and the closure of the US Embassy in 1961.
In 2019, the US sanctioned Raul for aiding and propping the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Nicholas Maduro was then accused of rigging elections against the opposition and clinging on to power.
The US secretary of defense then, Mike Pompeo alleged that “in concert with Maduro’s military and intelligence officers, members of the cuban security forces have been involved in gross human rights abuses in Venezuela including torture.”
“As First Secretary of Cuba’s Armed Forces, Castro is responsible for Cuba’s actions to prop up the former Maduro regime in Venezuela through violence, intimidation and repression(sic).” Pompeo added.
On May 20, 2026, the US indicted Castro on charges of Conspiracy to kill Americans, destruction of an aircraft, and four counts of murder.
On February 24, 1996, Cuban MiG fighter jets shot down two Cessna aircraft flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue. The group regularly conducted humanitarian flights to locate and assist Cuban migrants in the Florida Straits.
Trump has been keen of bringing down the Cuban regime since taking power. Since February 2026, the US has put an oil blockade on Cuba that has plunged the country in power shutdowns and paralyzed transportation.
A month earlier, Venezuela’s Maduro was abducted from his country and jailed in the US after a brief military confrontation with the Cuban forces that guarded him.
On his patriach’s 95th birthday, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, whom Raul installed in 2019 warned; “Cuba wants peace, does not provoke, does not attack. We continue betting on the climate of understanding with the USA based on mutual respect, despite our differences, and it has shown that it’s possible. Now then, if the homeland is attacked, we will respond in legitimate defense. And if they try to enter, let there be no doubt, there will be determined and firm combat.”
