Berichten zufolge bereitet sich das Justizministerium darauf vor, Raúl Castro anzuklagen, „um Kuba zu zwingen, sich den US-Forderungen zu beugen“

The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to indict former Cuban president Raúl Castro over the country’s 1996 downing of two civilian planes that killed four Cuban Americans “to force the regime to bow to U.S. demands,” in the words of a Friday report from NBC News.

The outlet, citing two U.S. officials familiar with the matter, reported that federal prosecutors are actively building a case against the 94-year-old, whose brother is the late dictator Fidel Castro. The potential charges stem from the shooting of two planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami humanitarian group whose volunteers searched for Cuban migrants attempting to cross the Florida Straits.

According to NBC News, Fidel Castro, who was president at the time while his younger brother was Minister of the Armed Forces, said then that the planes were shot down to protect against “terrorist threats.”

The legal effort is part of a broader campaign by President Donald Trump’s administration, which, in NBC’s words, is “designed to force the regime to bow to U.S. demands, including through drastic economic sanctions and threats of potential military action.”

Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, declined to discuss the case directly, saying only that it was a matter for the Justice Department.

“You talk about a declining country, they are really a nation or a country in decline,” Trump said. “So we’re going to see.”

NBC reported that the administration has also intensified diplomatic pressure in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the United States Department of State announced new sanctions targeting foreign companies doing business with Cuba, while offering $100 million in humanitarian aid if Havana agreed to what officials described as “meaningful” reforms.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana on Thursday to deliver what a CIA official described to NBC News in a Thursday email as a warning that Cuba must move quickly or risk consequences similar to those faced by Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.