Raul Castro [Reuters=Yonhap News]

The U.S. government has indicted Raul Castro, the 95-year-old former president and the de facto power behind the scenes of the Cuban Revolution, a senior administration official told Reuters on the 20th (local time).

With the U.S. judicial authorities directly targeting the actual leader who effectively governs Cuba, the geopolitical situation in Latin America, which had frozen following the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January of this year, is expected to be engulfed in turmoil once again.

This indictment, in particular, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump strongly pushes for regime change in Cuba. President Trump had previously hinted at the possibility of military action in March, stating that "Cuba is next." Historically, it is rare for the U.S. government to indict a foreign top leader, Reuters reported.

The United States is virtually blockading Cuba through high-intensity sanctions against countries supplying fuel to Cuba. As a result, large-scale power outages are occurring across Cuba, and the worst economic crisis in decades is worsening.

President Miguel Diaz-Canel and former President Raul Castro (right) [Reuters=Yonhap News]

The indictment is reportedly related to an incident in 1996 where two aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group based in Miami, were shot down by the Cuban military, resulting in the deaths of four occupants. At the time, Raul Castro was the Minister of Defense.

The possibility of the elderly Castro going to jail due to the U.S. indictment appears slim. Nevertheless, the reason the Trump administration has drawn its sword is analyzed as a clear "tactical pressure card." This is because Raul Castro is the behind-the-scenes power that substantially supports the Cuban regime.

After successfully leading the Cuban Revolution in 1959 with his brother Fidel Castro and friend Che Guevara, he served as Minister of Defense for about half a century. He served as president for 10 years from 2008, when Fidel stepped down due to poor health, until 2018.

Even after his retirement, he wields significant influence in politics and business from behind the scenes of power.

While President Miguel Diaz-Canel is the nominal head of state, the practical power driving Cuba comes from the Castro family led by Raul, according to experts.

The Cuban government has not yet issued any comment regarding the indictment of Raul Castro. However, Cuban President Diaz-Canel indirectly criticized the United States on social media on this day, Independence Day, stating, "They must never forget that thanks to the contributions of the empire itself, we anti-imperialists are far more numerous."

The "contributions of the empire" here are interpreted as paradoxically emphasizing that pressure such as the U.S.'s high-intensity sanctions and this indictment have actually strengthened anti-American solidarity within Cuba.

Cuba officially gained independence from Spain on May 20, 1902, but was under U.S. influence for a long period until the Cuban Revolution in 1959.