Former Cuban President Raul Castro Indicted in US

Former Cuban President Raul Castro has been indicted in the United States, a senior Trump administration official said today, in a move that marks an escalation of pressure from Washington on the Caribbean island's communist government.

The indictment comes as US President Donald Trump steps up pressure for regime change in Cuba, where Castro's communists have been in power since his late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

It is the latest example of how Trump's Justice Department is using criminal prosecutions to crack down on his political opponents at home and abroad. Historically, U.S. indictments of foreign leaders have been rare.

The US has effectively imposed a blockade on Cuba by threatening sanctions on countries that supply it with fuel, causing power outages and exacerbating the island's worst crisis in decades.

Castro, 94, was Cuba's defense minister before taking over as president in 2008 after his brother fell ill. Fidel died in 2016.

Raul Castro stepped down as president in 2018, but remains a powerful figure in Cuban politics.

Havana has not directly commented on the threat of indictment, although Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez showed defiance in public comments on May 15.

"Despite the US embargo, sanctions and threats of force, Cuba continues on the path of sovereignty towards its socialist development," Rodriguez said.

Born in 1931, Raul Castro was, along with his older brother, a key figure in the guerrilla war that toppled the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. He helped defeat the US-led Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.

The initiation of criminal proceedings against a US opponent like Castro is reminiscent of an earlier drug trafficking indictment against imprisoned former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ally of Havana.

The Trump administration cited that accusation as justification for the U.S. military's assault on Caracas on January 3, during which Maduro was arrested and transferred to New York to face charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Trump claims that Cuba's communist government is corrupt, and in March he threatened that Cuba was "next" after Venezuela.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday that any US military action against Cuba would lead to "bloodshed" and that the island posed no threat.