Ammon News - The Trump administration ​is expected to announce criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro on Wednesday as the United States steps up its pressure campaign against the Caribbean ‌island's communist government.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered to forge a new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba on Wednesday in a video message to the Cuban people, offering $100 million in aid and blaming Cuba's leaders for shortages of electricity, food and fuel.

The charges against Castro, 94, are expected to be based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down ​planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles, a U.S. Justice Department official told Reuters last week on the condition of anonymity.

The Miami ​U.S. Attorney's office is planning to host an event starting at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) to honor victims of the incident. ⁠The Justice Department said on Tuesday it would make an announcement in conjunction with the ceremony, but did not provide details about the announcement.

President Donald Trump ​has been seeking regime change in Cuba, where communists have been in charge since Raul Castro's late brother Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

The U.S. has ​effectively imposed a blockade on the island by threatening sanctions on countries supplying it with fuel, triggering power outages and delivering blows to its already fragile economy.

Cuba has yet to comment directly on the threat of indictment though Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez expressed defiance in public comments on May 15.


Reuters