Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 21, 2026


BONUS POD： Untouchable No More—U.S. Slaps Murder Charges on Former Cuban Leader Castro


Episode Stats


Length

21 minutes

Words per minute

130.39

Word count

2,762

Sentence count

135

Harmful content

Toxicity

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Raul Castro is the same man who watched a baseball game with President Obama. And now the question in part two is this: What happens next to Castro? Will it look like Maduro? And will the United States of America go after Castro the same way it went after Maduro?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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00:01:02.260 day. Some may have spent a little bit too much time at a place called Mr. G's. I don't know
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00:01:41.180 You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
00:01:45.500 Good Thursday morning. It's nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update.
00:01:49.060 And we've got one very big story for you, but two parts of it that you're going to want to hear.
00:01:54.600 First up, the Trump Department of Justice has indicted Raul Castro, this time for murder.
00:02:02.220 He's the same man that watched a baseball game with Barack Obama.
00:02:06.240 And now the question in part two is this.
00:02:09.520 What happens next to Castro?
00:02:11.920 Will it look like Maduro?
00:02:13.860 And now the big question is this.
00:02:15.700 Will the United States of America go after Castro the same way that we went after Maduro?
00:02:22.160 When we talk about Israel, we're not just talking about a place.
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00:02:39.900 What he promises, he fulfills.
00:02:42.360 And that matters today.
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00:03:31.720 pray ifcj.org it's the 47 morning update and it starts right now story number one truly historic
00:03:41.840 breaking news happened in miami the united states department of justice has officially indicted
00:03:48.420 the former cuban dictator roe castro on murder and conspiracy charges tied to one of the most
00:03:55.760 infamous acts of state-sponsored terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. Now the announcement came in
00:04:01.700 Miami at the historic Freedom Tower. It is a symbolic location for generations of Cuban refugees
00:04:08.020 who fled communist oppression under the Castro regime. The acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
00:04:15.880 announced the indictment alongside federal officials and members of Congress. Now the
00:04:21.240 charges stem from the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that were operated by the
00:04:28.320 humanitarian group brothers to the rescue those planes were flying over international waters
00:04:34.780 when cuban mig fighter jets fired missiles and blew them out of the sky killing four men three
00:04:42.840 were american citizens and one had a green card now let's be clear about what prosecutors are
00:04:48.800 saying here the DOJ says this was not an accident this was not confusion this was not some rogue
00:04:56.440 military officer acting independently federal prosecutors say Raul Castro who at the time
00:05:03.620 was Cuba's defense minister not only was involved but helped direct and authorize the operation
00:05:09.860 that intentionally targeted unarmed civilian planes over international waters for decades
00:05:17.940 families of the victims have waited for this type of accountability and now nearly 30 years later
00:05:24.580 the united states government is finally saying enough now to put in perspective about just how
00:05:30.960 big of a deal this is when it comes to accountability the same castro that was indicted by the u.s
00:05:37.620 government for murder today was sitting next to then president barack obama at a baseball game
00:05:45.120 when Barack Obama was trying to normalize relationships with a man that the U.S. government now says is a murderer.
00:05:53.100 Todd Blanche announcing all this, and here is exactly what he had to say.
00:05:59.140 Today, we are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.
00:06:15.120 Mr. Castro and the others are charged with additional crimes as well, including destruction
00:06:34.040 of aircraft and four individual counts of murder.
00:06:39.800 The indictment was returned by a grand jury sitting in this district in Miami on April
00:06:46.360 23rd, 2026 and was unsealed today.
00:06:51.720 For nearly 30 years, 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for
00:06:59.660 justice.
00:07:01.940 On February, this is a story all too familiar, on February 24, 1996, two civilian aircraft
00:07:09.980 operated by brothers to the rescue were shot down over international waters by military
00:07:16.960 aircraft from Cuba.
00:07:19.880 men were killed, Carlos Costa, Armando Alejandro Jr., Mario de la Pena, and Pablo Morales.
00:07:32.780 They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection
00:07:41.020 of people fleeing oppression across the Florida Straits.
00:07:46.480 As alleged in the indictment, Raul Castro and five co-defendants participated in a conspiracy
00:07:52.080 that ended with Cuban military aircraft firing missiles at those civilian planes and killing
00:07:57.800 four Americans.
00:07:59.780 Those are the allegations returned by a federal grand jury.
00:08:03.160 My message today is clear.
00:08:07.780 The United States and President Trump does not and will not forget its citizens.
00:08:21.280 I want to say that we also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends
00:08:27.500 who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years.
00:08:32.700 For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged
00:08:39.920 in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths
00:08:45.160 of American citizens.
00:08:48.540 Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face
00:08:57.320 accountability. 0.98
00:08:59.500 Trump is committed to restoring a very simple but important principle if you kill Americans we will
00:09:04.980 pursue you no matter who you are no matter what title you hold and in this case no matter how
00:09:11.000 much time has passed you could hear the emotion in the room when the indictments were announced
00:09:16.880 with the extended applause because for decades the families of the victims have been waiting
00:09:22.380 for this type of accountability and wondering if it would ever come especially when you had the
00:09:28.300 Obama administration cozying up side by side with the man that now the U.S. is charging with murder.
00:09:35.120 Imagine being one of those family members watching the politics of that play out.
00:09:39.400 Now, the indictment includes conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, multiple murder counts and
00:09:45.860 destruction of aircraft. Prosecutors say the evidence includes military communications,
00:09:51.240 intelligence assessments and long-standing testimony connected Castro directly to the
00:09:58.460 attack and this matters for another reason this is not happening in isolation the Trump
00:10:04.620 administration clearly has a game plan here and they have dramatically escalated pressure on the
00:10:10.060 Cuban regime in recent weeks and months relations between Washington and Havana have deteriorated
00:10:16.000 rapidly amid cuba's economic collapse the blackouts the isolation and the protests as well
00:10:22.940 as food shortages and the growing unrest inside the island nation the timing of this indictment
00:10:29.520 is also deeply symbolic it was announced on cuba's independence day and the heart of miami's cuban
00:10:37.040 exile community and politically there's also a very clear message the white house is sending
00:10:43.040 no communist dictator is untouchable in the western hemisphere anymore because americans
00:10:51.020 just watched something extraordinary happen in venezuela with nicholas maduro and for years
00:10:57.320 people said maduro would never face justice people said indictments were just symbolic and
00:11:03.640 meaningless against cartel members all over the world people said dictators are also literally
00:11:09.740 protected forever and then suddenly the pressure campaign intensified from the trump administration
00:11:16.420 international isolation then increased the financial networks around these individuals
00:11:23.360 collapsed and military allies then disappeared people around maduro started turning on him
00:11:30.400 and eventually he was captured that precedent is hanging over the story right now and let's be
00:11:37.200 honest Raul Castro is 94 years old Cuba is not going to voluntarily extradite him tomorrow
00:11:46.340 morning but indictments they do matter once someone is indicted by the United States government
00:11:52.600 they become internationally radioactive travel becomes extremely dangerous the financial systems
00:12:00.520 close and allies deliberately start distancing themselves from the individual. Intelligence
00:12:07.100 agency begin coordinating and then the diplomatic pressure even increases more. It's exactly what
00:12:13.660 happened around Maduro and now it's happening around Castro and perhaps most importantly the
00:12:19.840 regime begins to fracture internally because once the people around a dictator realize that America
00:12:26.000 is very serious the first thing that always happens just like with maduro is the survival
00:12:32.320 instincts kick in big time and that is exactly what is happening in cuba as we speak many in
00:12:39.980 cuban exile community believe history may be starting to repeat itself the bigger story here
00:12:45.460 is that america is signaling a completely different posture towards hostile regimes
00:12:50.420 in our hemisphere and for years communist governments in cuba and venezuela they operated
00:12:56.980 under the assumption that they could literally just outlast every administration in washington
00:13:02.040 now they're looking at criminal indictments sanctions diplomatic isolation and the very
00:13:08.660 real possibility that the people at the top may eventually actually face justice not in their
00:13:16.220 country but in America's courtroom and after 30 years the families of those murdered pilots
00:13:22.960 finally heard words they've waited decades to hear that Raul Castro has been charged with
00:13:30.360 murdering their family members. Now story number two. So the big question a lot of people have now
00:13:35.740 is what happens next? The Maduro model and well could that be exactly what Castro should be so
00:13:42.440 nervous about that is the question everyone is asking not just in the U.S. but also in Cuba
00:13:49.960 because if you look carefully at what the Trump administration has done with Venezuela
00:13:54.560 and now what they're doing with Cuba you can see a very clear strategy that's emerging step one
00:14:02.320 you criminally indict the regime leadership step two you cut off financial lifelines step three
00:14:10.140 you then increase diplomatic isolation step four you pressure insiders to then flip and we know
00:14:17.580 the CIA director was literally just in Cuba having meetings and step five you then wait for the
00:14:24.640 regime to weaken from within that's exactly what happened with Maduro it worked perfectly at first
00:14:32.140 people laughed off the indictments against him they called them symbolic they said he would
00:14:37.920 never be touched because he controlled the military and the intelligence apparatus in
00:14:43.140 Venezuela. By the way, he had a lot more money and guns and power than what you see right now
00:14:49.300 in Cuba. And then you go back to the game plan of Venezuela. Over time, things started to change.
00:14:57.180 Sanctions crushed the revenue streams. Exactly what we're witnessing in Cuba right now.
00:15:02.020 Then international banking access dried up, key allies then became liabilities, corruption
00:15:09.500 networks got exposed, and people inside the regime started cooperating.
00:15:14.620 And then that's when the walls began closing in.
00:15:18.100 Now, look at where we are at this exact moment with Cuba.
00:15:22.640 Cuba is facing almost the exact same warning signs.
00:15:27.100 The Cuban economy is in a catastrophic condition.
00:15:30.240 It's actually far worse than it was in Venezuela.
00:15:34.280 The island not only suffering rolling blackouts, but now they're suffering real food shortages, fuel shortages, and increased public unrest that we haven't seen in years.
00:15:46.140 Young Cubans are also fleeing in record numbers.
00:15:49.700 The government is literally struggling to maintain basic control.
00:15:53.700 They're also running out of jet fuel, and the regime no longer has the same financial backing that it once relied on from Venezuela and from other adversaries of the U.S., and that's critical because Cuba and Venezuela have long operated as basically survival partners for socialist authoritarianism in Latin America.
00:16:17.880 When Venezuela weakens, Cuba weakens, and now the Trump administration appears to be exploiting exactly that vulnerability, and it was planned out perfectly.
00:16:29.100 So the indictment against Raul Castro is anything but symbolic.
00:16:34.660 It's more than a legal document.
00:16:36.980 Not only is it psychological warfare against the Cuban regime, it's telling the military officials there, literally, you could be next.
00:16:45.960 It tells the intelligence officers, the United States is collecting evidence and you could be next.
00:16:54.140 It tells the regime insiders, your protection may have been lost forever.
00:17:00.860 And that creates the real fear inside authoritarian governments.
00:17:05.520 Now remember this, most dictatorships don't collapse from outside invasion anymore.
00:17:11.780 They collapse internally.
00:17:14.360 It's when people start to defect, when the military leaders then start cutting deals,
00:17:19.060 when the business elites start moving their money, intelligence officials then start leaking
00:17:25.140 information to gain favors, and eventually the regime loses the ability to even project
00:17:30.660 fear on the people to keep them down.
00:17:33.880 And that's what happened around Maduro. 0.76
00:17:36.880 And by the way, many Cuban Americans, they're celebrating because they believe that that
00:17:42.620 same process is beginning for them in Havana now there's also the other question that everyone
00:17:49.020 asks will Raul Castro himself ever stand trial in Miami no one knows he's 94 years old it's
00:17:58.000 obviously a factor being that he's so old in his age but this is bigger than just one man
00:18:04.740 This is about dismantling the aura of invincibility surrounding the Castro regime and the loyalists
00:18:13.060 there.
00:18:13.740 Look, for decades, the Castro name represented untouchable power in Cuba, so much so that
00:18:19.960 even Barack Obama sat down with Roel Castro and watched a baseball game side by side this 0.82
00:18:26.900 murderer.
00:18:27.340 now the former dictator stands indicted by the same u.s government that used to sit down with him
00:18:36.080 that is a change in history and there's also another major issue the cuban military and
00:18:42.940 political elite well they're watching very carefully to see whether america is serious
00:18:48.180 because if they believe the pressure campaign will continue if they believe sanctions will
00:18:54.780 intensify and if they believe more indictments are coming then the survival instinct begins to
00:19:02.120 take over instantly and that's when everything starts to crack when people start choosing
00:19:08.060 themselves over the regime that they've been loyal to and if that process begins to accelerate
00:19:14.520 and let's be clear Cuba is virtually shut down right now from the rest of the world
00:19:19.640 The Cuban government now faces its greatest internal instability it's seen since the revolution began.
00:19:28.280 That's why this was not just a courtroom story, just another indictment.
00:19:34.780 This is a geopolitical warning shot.
00:19:38.000 The message from Washington is also very simple.
00:19:41.220 The error of communist dictators in the Western Hemisphere operating without consequences may finally be coming to a very real end without a war actually ever starting.
00:19:54.040 Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
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