Cuba's former President Raul Castro watches a May Day rally in Havana, Cuba May 1, 2025. (REUTERS) The United States is preparing to indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, according to a US Department of Justice official. News agency Reuters reported that the indictment, which would still require approval from a grand jury, could come soon. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the case centres on the long-contentious incident in which Cuban fighter jets shot down the planes, killing four Cuban-American men. Havana had maintained at the time that the aircraft had violated Cuban airspace, while the United States said they were flying in international airspace. The move marks a major escalation in already strained US-Cuba relations under President Donald Trump , whose administration has intensified sanctions on the communist-run island.…