Florida has secured an arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.
State Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Monday that the 95-year-old younger brother of Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro has been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.
Castro served as Cuba's defense minister before succeeding his older brother as president.
Uthmeier said evidence shows Raúl Castro ordered the military in 1996 to shoot down two civilian planes that took off from South Florida, killing four men.
"The people of Miami have waited too long," Uthmeier said at a Florida International University press conference. "The families have waited too long. Florida has waited too long. Well, today the wait is over."
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Those men were members of Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based group that searched for Cuban migrants at sea.
"We'll be ready to bring the case however needed," Uthmeier said. "I'm not ignorant of the fact that Raúl Castro is an older man who's probably not looking to march himself into Miami. I think others would get him before the court of law would."
Uthmeier said he could be extradited to Florida if he travels to certain countries.
Castro already faces federal charges.
"Our system of dual sovereignty allows both the federal government and the states to prosecute violations of their respective laws," said U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, at the press conference. "That means two separate prosecutions, each standing on their own."
ALSO READ: Thirty years after deadly plane shoot-down, Raúl Castro indicted by the U.S.
José Javier Rodríguez, the Democrat running against Uthmeier for attorney general, said he would arrest Castro if given the chance.
"If we can arrest the murderous Raúl Castro from Tallahassee, I will be the first to do it as Attorney General," he wrote in a statement.
But Rodríguez, a former Cuban American state lawmaker, called the press conference a "political distraction."
"This is a smokescreen to distract from Hope Florida and Alligator Alcatraz," he said. "They've come to my community to mock us with these unserious displays rather than show us respect."
Rodríguez pointed out the announcement came on the first day of early voting in Miami-Dade County, which has a large Cuban American population.
Uthmeier said his team "worked through the night over the last couple weeks" and the announcement came "the minute we could get our law enforcement officials together."
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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