A Staten Island congresswoman whose mom fled communist Cuba is calling on the US military to do to 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro what it did to Venezuelan dictator Nicólas Maduro — snatch him off the island and bring him to justice in an American courtroom.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) told The Post on Monday of her call for action as the Department of Justice was in the final stages of unsealing a superseding indictment against Castro and five other officials over the 1996 shoot-down of two US aircraft in international waters that led to the deaths of four people, including three Americans.
Castro has been charged along with five others with seven counts of murder, conspiracy to kill US nationals and destruction of aircraft.
Malliotakis, who still has family living in the communist island, is concerned that the 94-year-old Castro could escape Cuba and seek refuge in China, Russia and Iran.
“I don’t know that they would turn him over. I mean you could have something similar to what happened with (former Venezuela President Nicólas) Maduro,” she said. “He may choose to flee the island to evade being captured.”
Malliotakis was referring to the surprising operation ordered by President Trump launched on Jan. 3 that resulted in the arrest of the Venezuelan dictator and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“The capture of Maduro was done flawlessly, (it was) flawlessly executed and it was done with precision and it was done swiftly,” the representative for New York’s 11th congressional district explained. “I imagine if they were to go in they would be doing the same thing.”
Malliotakis said that she is not privy to any plans that Washington may have, but argued that Castro “should be prosecuted and should be held accountable for his crimes against humanity, particularly the murders of the American citizens 30 years ago.”
Malliotakis joined GOP Florida representatives María Salazar, Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart on Feb. 17 in presenting Trump a letter in which they begged the DOJ to renew the investigation into Casto’s involvement in ordering Cuban military fighter jets to open fire on three US civilian aircraft operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based organization that deploys humanitarian flights to help Cuban migrants in distress at sea.
The DOJ finally presented its indictment on Wednesday. alleged that on Feb. 24, 1996, two of the three Brothers to the Rescue unarmed aircraft were struck by air-to-air missiles while they were outside Cuban waters.
Three US citizens, Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa and Mario de la Peña were killed, along with Pablo Morales, a legal resident.
Meanwhile, the Cuban communist regime held a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Havana on Friday –as Castro’s daughter, Mariel Castro, dared the American military to repeat the mission that was carried out in Venezuela.
“Ready for combat. No one is going to kidnap him,” she told reporters. “I can assure you of that. Neither him, nor anyone else. We are here ready to fight imperialism.”
