What’s Hidden Behind the Headlines of U.S. Charges Against Raúl Castro

A screening and discussion of “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up” chronicling the hostile U.S.-Cuba relations followed by discussion.
About this Event

n Wednesday, May 20, 2026, before a cheering crowd of Cuban exile luminaries in Miami’s Freedom Tower, acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the “historic” indictment of 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro on charges of ordering the murders of four American nationals 30 years ago.

The charges relate to a 1996 incident in which Castro, then Cuba defense minister, allegedly ordered Cuban MiGs to shoot down unarmed civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based “humanitarian” organization, Brothers to the Rescue, in the Straits of Florida.

A mountain of historical and political context is needed to properly understand the charges against Castro. The incident has ties to the case of the Cuban Five, whose trial proceedings in 2000 forced José Basulto, the founder of Brothers to the Rescue, to admit that Brothers had been test-firing potential weapons that could have been used against Cuba.

You’re invited to this free screening of “Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up”, which chronicles half a century of hostile U.S.-Cuba relations. The film, by the late IPS Fellow and filmmaker Saul Landau, tells the story of the case of The Cuban Five, intelligence agents sent to penetrate Cuban exile terrorist groups in Miami and who almost served long Pr*son sentences until a negotiated release in 2014. The film highlights decades of assassinations and sabotage at first backed by Washington, then ignored by the very government that launched a "war against terrorism."

Landau landed interviews with the leading anti-Castro terrorists, who recounted their deeds often with the blessing of the CIA as well as interviews with Cuban state security officials explaining why they sent the five agents to infiltrate the violent Miami exile groups.

Discussion Speakers:

• Isaac Saney is a Professor and Cuba and Black Studies Specialist in Black African Diaspora Studies and History, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. He is also a member of the executive of the Canadian Network On Cuba.
• Cheryl LaBash was an organizer in the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 and has served many years as the co-Chair for the National Network on Cuba (NNOC)
• Netfa Freeman is IPS Events Coordinator and was an organizer in the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5

This event is in support of An International "No War on Cuba" Week of Action that is from June 28 to July 4, organized by the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) and allied solidarity coalitions