Commissioner Milian Orbis on Castro Warrant: “No Dictator Is Beyond the Reach of the Law”

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis today applauded a new Florida arrest warrant charging Raúl Castro with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, a no-bond offense, for the February 24, 1996 shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft.

“Raúl Castro gave the order that shot and killed four unarmed men out of the sky over international waters. For 30 years he has hidden behind a dictatorship and dared the world to do something about it. Today Florida answered. There is now a warrant with his name on it, and no regime, no border, and no number of years will wash the blood off his hands", said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis. 

Signed by Eleventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan, the warrant authorizes Florida to seek Castro’s extradition if he is arrested anywhere in the United States. The Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution will take jurisdiction over the case, which stands separate from the federal indictment brought against Castro earlier this year. 

“Thirty years ago, Castro bet that time would bury this crime. He lost that bet. I commend Attorney General James Uthmeier, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Chief Judge Fajardo Orshan for refusing to let these murders fade into history. The families of these four men have waited three decades for this day. Miami has never forgotten them, Florida has not forgotten them, and Raúl Castro should never forget that we are coming.”