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FIG.I / EVENT 20

Blanche: Castro Will Face Court 'By His Own Will or By Another Way.' 'This Is Not a Show Indictment.'

TODD BLANCHE · MAY 20, 2026 · CUBA / DOJ

TODD BLANCHE
"We expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way."
"This is not a show indictment."— Blanche, Miami Freedom Tower
What happened

At the May 20 unsealing at Miami's Freedom Tower, Acting Attorney General Blanche announced charges against 94-year-old Raúl Castro for the 1996 shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue planes. A warrant was issued. Asked how far the U.S. would go to bring him in, Blanche said Castro would appear 'by his own will or by another way' and would face a Miami jury. Trump the same day praised the indictment while saying Cuba was a 'failing nation' the U.S. was ready to help on a humanitarian basis.

What the press did with it

The 1996 shootdown and emotional ceremony dominated. 'Another way' — the phrase that invokes Maduro-style extraction — was quoted once and not developed. Whether an indictment of a foreign head of state is law enforcement or leverage in an active Cuba pressure campaign was left unexplored.

The question that didn't get asked

Blanche did not say Castro might face trial someday. He said the U.S. expects him here, one way or another. That is a doctrine of forced appearance, stated at a podium, on the same day the president denied escalation. The press covered justice for victims. It did not cover what the government said it would do next.