Washington’s regime-change playbook might stall in Havana

The recent U.S. indictment of Cuba’s 94-year-old former leader, Raul Castro, is far more than a symbolic legal gesture. It is the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is reviving the same pressure campaign it used against Venezuela and is attempting to apply it to Havana.

The federal charges stem from a 30-year-old tragedy: the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based Brothers to the Rescue organization, which killed four men, including three U.S. citizens. Prosecutors allege that Castro, acting as Cuba’s defense minister at the time, directly authorized the attack.