The US Department of Justice has indicted 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and five military personnel for conspiracy to murder US citizens and the 1996 downing of two civilian aircraft operated by the anti-Castro exile group Hermanos al Rescate, in which four Americans died. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the charges in Miami, alleging that Cuban military forces fired missiles at the unarmed civilian planes in international waters. President Trump characterized Cuba as 'a nation in collapse' and declined to rule out military action, while Cuban President Díaz-Canel rejected the accusations as politically motivated fabrications.