The US has announced criminal charges against Cuban leader Raul Castro, brother of revolutionary figure Fidel Castro, accusing him of ordering planes carrying Cuban exiles to be shot down in 1996.
Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio released an impassioned Spanish-language video aimed at Cubans, in which he blamed Havana for their current suffering.
Mr Castro, 94, was charged with murder and conspiracy to kill US nationals, acting attorney general Todd Blanche said to resounding applause during a ceremony honouring victims of the incident.
"Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability," Mr Blanche said.
He said four people were killed when two civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue were shot down over international waters, allegedly by military aircraft from Cuba in 1996.
The charges of murder and conspiracy to kill US citizens carry sentences of up to life imprisonment or the death penalty, while the other charges carry up to five years in prison.
In a statement to The National, the Cuban government condemned the "despicable accusation" in the "strongest terms."
"The United States government lacks the legitimacy and jurisdiction to carry out this action," it said, calling Brothers to the Rescue a "terrorist organisation".
"This is a despicable and infamous act of political provocation, based on the dishonest manipulation of the incident."
The government described the action against Mr Castro as part of "desperate attempts by anti-Cuban elements to construct a fraudulent narrative in an effort to justify the collective and merciless punishment of the noble Cuban people through the strengthening of unilateral coercive measures".
The announcement comes on the date marking the establishment of the Cuban republic – and the end of the US occupation – in 1902.
US President Donald Trump has targeted Cuba in increasingly bellicose language since returning to office, calling it a failed state and threatening the communist-run island. The US has also established an oil blockade around the country in recent months, compounding an embargo Washington put in place in the 1960s.
“America will not tolerate a rogue state harbouring hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror operations just 90 miles [145km] from the American homeland,” Mr Trump said.
Earlier, a report quoting US officials said that Cuba had acquired 300 drones from Russia and Iran, with which it planned to attack the US base at Guantanamo Bay.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said, however, that the island does not represent a threat to the US. He warned that, were the US to take action against Cuba, it would cause "a bloodbath with incalculable consequences".
Critics have said the drones and the charges against Mr Castro are an attempt to justify an impending US invasion. In January, US special forces carried out a raid in Caracas, Venezuela, that led to the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, who was taken to a New York court to stand trial on drugs and weapons-related charges.
Mr Blanche said the Castro indictment was not for "show".
"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," he said.
Mr Rubio, in the video posted on X, offered Cubans a “new relationship” with the US, saying Washington could provide $100 million in aid for the people, distributed through non-governmental channels. He blamed the Cuban leadership for current fuel and food shortages and power cuts.
“The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to the oil blockade by the US,” he said. “The real reason you don't have electricity, food or fuel is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars but nothing has been used to help the people.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said Mr Rubio was repeating a “mendacious script” and acting as the “mouthpiece of corrupt and vengeful interests, concentrated in South Florida, and which do not represent the feelings of the majority of the American people, nor of the Cubans who live there”.
