DOJ expected to make announcement during Miami event honoring Brothers to the Rescue plane shootdown victims

The Justice Department is scheduled to make an announcement on Wednesday at Miami's Freedom Tower during a ceremony to honor victims of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown 30 years ago.

Jose Basulto, founder of the group, hopes the announcement will be a criminal indictment of Raúl Castro.

"It's time for them to pay," Basulto said.

Raúl Castro, the powerful brother of the late Fidel Castro, gave orders for Cuban jets to attack the rescue group over international waters, according to prosecutors who have investigated the case. Two planes were shot down in February of 1996, killing four Brothers to the Rescue volunteers who the group says were looking for Cuban exiles at sea.

"He was the one in command of the shootdown, and I believe if anybody needs to be indicted, it's him," Basulto said of Raul Castro.

Former U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis agrees and says the evidence for an indictment is there.

"There's both testimony from individuals who lay out his role. He has, in many respects, admitted to his participation," Lewis said.

Lewis also raised questions about the scope of a possible indictment, suggesting it could include charges of narco-terrorism, for which he says evidence exists. "It showed that over the years, the brothers used the island to both transport cocaine, receive money, launder money, provided protection to the cartels," Lewis added.

Regarding whether the Trump administration would seek military action to bring Castro to justice, Lewis offered this prediction: "I believe this president, under these circumstances, would allow the military to go over and bring him to justice, I truly do".

However, some experts caution that military support for the Cuban regime remains largely intact—unlike in Venezuela, where the now-former head of state was captured by U.S. forces—escalating the risk to U.S. forces.

Both Basulto and Lewis said they have been waiting decades for Castro to be held accountable, and the clock for the regime may finally be running out.

"You can delay it, you can avoid it, you can hide from it, but eventually, eventually Justice finds you and it will here," Lewis said.

"It means for me, Justice. Justice has been denied for years," Basulto said.

Wednesday is also Cuba's Independence Day.

The press conference is expected to start at 1 p.m. Wednesday.