A U.S. federal court in Miami, Florida, on May 20 indicted former Cuban President Raul Castro on one count of conspiracy against U.S. citizens, four counts of murder, and two counts of destruction of aircraft related to a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes that were operated by Cuban exiles, Reuters reported the same day. The official announcement of the indictment followed a May 20 statement by U.S. President Donald Trump in which he called Cuba "rogue state harboring hostile foreign military."

Also on May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (the son of Cuban immigrants) released a video message to the Cuban people in which he said that the United States could provide $100 million in aid, and blamed the island's current electricity outages and shortages of basic necessities on the Cuban government. Castro, now 94 years old, was president from 2008 to 2021, and during the 1996 incident, he served as defense minister. May 20 is Cuba's independence day. In January, a U.S. military operation successfully apprehended former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after which a criminal indictment of Maduro and his wife was unsealed.