Cuba outraged after US indicts Raul Castro

People hold a sign outside Versailles Restaurant in support of charges announced by US federal prosecutors. [Chandan Khanna, AFP]

Cubans expressed their shock and indignation after the United States indicted former President Raul Castro on murder charges, a stunning new step in President Donald Trump's pressure on the communist state.

The charges against the ex-leader, who at 94 years old remains influential in Cuban politics, have fuelled speculation that Trump will try to topple the crisis-hit island, culminating a US pressure campaign which has imposed months of crippling oil blockades.

Authorities in Cuba and abroad slammed the indictment, the latest step-up in Trump's international interventions after the Iran war, the US toppling of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and threats against Greenland.

The charges against Raúl Castro, the younger brother of Fidel Castro, the late iconic US nemesis who led Cuba's communist revolution that culminated in 1959, stem from the deadly downing of two civilian planes manned by anti-Castro pilots in 1996.

Cuban authorities called on citizens to protest the "despicable" indictment, with the official newspaper Granma urging Cubans to gather outside the US embassy in Havana on Friday at 0730 (1230 GMT).

"This isn't really an accusation, something from more than 30 years ago, but rather a public attack on a public figure," Fabian Fernandez, a 30-year-old accountant, told AFP in Havana.

"It's a matter of politics and public image," he added.

In addition to murder, Castro has been charged with conspiracy to kill Americans and destruction of aircraft.

The Cuban government said in a statement that the 1996 shootdown was "legitimate self-defense" against an airspace violation.

"We expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way and go to prison," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a news conference in Miami attended by Cuban-Americans who cheered the announcement.

Pedro Leal, a 65-year-old retiree, accused Washington of hurting ordinary Cubans.

"What the US government is doing here now, aside from the energy blockade preventing us from bringing in fuel, honestly, it's criminal," he said.

A four-month US oil blockade, part of a campaign to undermine Cuba's communist leadership, has brought the island's already battered economy to the brink of collapse.

Cubans have suffered power outages of up to 20 hours a day and taps running dry.

Runaway inflation has caused the price of basic goods to soar and mountains of trash have piled up on the streets of Havana.

Iris Herrera, a 58-year-old self-employed woman, said she worried about a US military intervention in Cuba.

"I do not agree with a war by the United States here in Cuba," she told AFP.

"It's inhumane, because there will be deaths. There will be many deaths."

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on X that the charges carry no legal basis and "add to the file they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba."

China led international reaction to the charge, saying it "firmly supports" Cuba and urging the United States to de-escalate tensions with the country.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a press briefing Thursday that Washington "should stop brandishing the sanctions stick and the judicial stick against Cuba and stop threatening force at every turn."

Beijing's comments came after the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its escort warships entered the Caribbean Sea, the military's Southern Command said on Wednesday.