US Indicts Former Cuban President Raul Castro

The Trump administration has confirmed that former Cuban president Raul Castro has been indicted in the United States, marking a further deterioration in relations between Washington and Havana as the US intensifies pressure on Cuba's communist government.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment. President Donald Trump declared that the United States would not tolerate a "rogue state" that supports hostile military and intelligence operations near US territory.

According to Reuters, the charges against the 94-year-old Castro are believed to relate to a 1996 incident in which Cuban fighter jets shot down planes belonging to a group of Cuban exiles. The US Justice Department has announced an event in Miami dedicated to the victims of that incident.

Relations between the US and Cuba have remained tense since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. After a period of partial easing under the Obama administration, Trump has tightened sanctions on the island, which Havana says has contributed to the country's economic and energy crisis.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also offered Cuba $100m in aid. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described Rubio's offer as cynical, but Havana did not reject it outright.

(reuters, max)