Four Cuban-American House Republicans urged President Donald Trump to have the Justice Department consider indicting former Cuban leader Raul Castro for the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes operated by "Brothers to the Rescue," an incident that killed four people and which will reach its 30th anniversary on Feb. 24.

In the letter described by Axios, Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.; Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla.; Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla.; and Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., asked the Department of Justice to weigh charges tied to the downing, describing the deaths as "cold-blooded murders of three Americans and a U.S. permanent resident."

The U.S. government has described the aircraft as having been downed in international airspace, a point disputed by the Cuban government at the time.

In 1997, the State Department said the planes were shot down "in international airspace," and a U.N.-summarized Security Council action said the Council "strongly deplores" the downing, which "apparently" caused four deaths, while recalling international civil aviation rules governing use of force against civil aircraft.

Congress later embedded the findings and related provisions in the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, formally titled the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act, which was signed March 12, 1996.

Axios said the lawmakers also cited a 1996 Miami Herald report in which Castro allegedly bragged about ordering the shootdown.

Castro, 94, was born June 3, 1931. In 2021, he stepped down as Communist Party chief, ending the Castro family era as the party elevated President Miguel Diaz-Canel as leader.

Axios also framed the indictment request as part of a broader push to expand U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.

During a recent Senate hearing, Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, inquired whether the United States would consider ruling out regime change in Cuba.

"Regime change? Oh no, I think we would love to see the regime there change," Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded.

"That doesn't mean that we're going to make a change, but we would love to see a change. There's no doubt about the fact that it would be of great benefit to the United States if Cuba was no longer governed by an autocratic regime."

Schatz asked Rubio if the U.S. would use military force in Cuba to hasten the regime's collapse.

"Yeah, but that's statutory," Rubio responded. "The Helms-Burton Act, the U.S. embargo on Cuba, is codified. It was codified in law, and it requires regime change in order for us to lift the embargo."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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