ABC Displays TDS, NBC Actually Educates Viewers in Special Report on Castro Indictment

ABC and NBC broke in Wednesday with community particular studies on the Justice Division’s historic indictments in opposition to Raúl Castro and 5 others within the lethal 1996 shootdown of plane associated to the pro-freedom Brothers to the Rescue group that resulted within the deaths of 4 males. Whereas NBC delivered a correct historical past lesson and gave no quarter to the murderous communist regime, ABC channeled its lengthy historical past of excusing the regime by framing this as largely a Trump political play.

ABC’s World Information Tonight anchor David Muir opened by framing the announcement at Miami’s Freedom Tower on the 124th anniversary of Cuban independence via Trump-tinted lenses, telling viewers this was all a few “main escalation” and “rising tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.”

Discover ABC’s David Muir opened the community’s Particular Report on the DOJ/Castro indictments via the lens of Trump, Trump, Trump, reminiscent of right here: “President Trump beforehand imposing a blockade of oil shipments to Cuba in an effort to proceed to cripple Cuba’s financial system.” pic.twitter.com/SPNeInKP3T

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) Might 20, 2026

Muir huffed the homicide fees of 94-year-old Castro got here after Trump took international coverage “motion, in fact, in Venezuela, then Iran” and, in Cuba, “impos[ed] a blockade of oil shipments to Cuba in an effort to proceed to cripple Cuba’s financial system.”

“President Trump has stated in current months that the U.S. was in talks with Havana. He raised the potential for a pleasant takeover of Cuba, in his phrases. And the President has stated Cuba goes to fall fairly quickly in his phrases as effectively,” he added.

Muir channeled his predecessors Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer by giving daylight to the commies. In 1989, Jennings gushed over Fidel Castro as having “delivered essentially the most to those that had the least” and turn into “a mannequin of improvement” on schooling, literacy, and “world-class” medical care. All of it, Jennings argued, served as “nice success tales” to Castro’s (violent) revolution.

In 1993, Sawyer swooned Raúl’s brother prevailed due to his “invincible certainty of their future” and, in 2008, stated Fidel “knew life is a stage and performed the a part of the dashing revolutionary.”

The one assist earlier than the press convention got here from obscure anecdotes from correspondent Matt Rivers, who stated from Little Havana that “we’ve been seeing individuals drive previous us right here…, honking their horns, Cuban flags out the home windows,” and a few donning Make America Nice Once more hats.

In the course of the speeches, Muir dipped out and tag-teamed with chief authorized analyst Dan Abrams to solid doubt on the indictment’s success:

Disney’s ABC Information was, unsurprisingly, very skeptical of the Justice Division’s indictment of Raul Castro and 5 others within the murders of 4 males from the Brothers to the Rescue in 1996 pic.twitter.com/TjEbvoOUeb

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) Might 20, 2026

There was extra obscure discuss from former longtime Univision correspondent Teresa Rodriguez, who adopted on the themes of doubts about its success, however a minimum of went additional than Rivers in offering colour on the jubilation in Miami:

[F]or a few of these people who I see in that viewers right now, a few of them are kinfolk, one in every of which I spoke to yesterday. And you’ll see the grins on their faces. They misplaced their family members, they misplaced their — their sons. So that is fairly a day, a historic day for the Cuban exile group, not simply right here, however everywhere in the world.

After Saturday World Information Tonight anchor and weekend Good Morning America co-host Whit Johnson relayed his current regime-approved journey to Cuba and touted a defiant authorities as abnormal individuals undergo (which he didn’t assign blame), Muir supplied essentially the most laughable line of all about ABC having “been dedicated to overlaying the Cuban individuals for a really very long time”:

As soon as they aired Thomas’s inquiries to Blanche, Muir signed off with extra skepticism, besides to vaguely state “issues are altering in Cuba.”

It could be an unlimited understatement to say NBC was completely different.

NBC Nightly Information anchor Tom Llamas — a Miami native and son of Cuban refugees — instantly declared it “a historic second” with fees associated to the loss of life of 4 from “the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue” and in addition famous the historic symbolism of the placement and day to unseal the indictment.

Llamas even acknowledged out loud some “viewers throughout the nation…could also be a bit confused” in regards to the pomp and circumstance surrounding the roll out, so he delivered a historical past lesson of types in regards to the males misplaced (some had served within the Vietnam Conflict) and what Brothers to the Rescue achieved.

Correspondent Jesse Kirsch additionally pointed to how Brothers to the Rescue have been “credited with saving upwards of 10,000 lives” and thus weren’t a “trivial” group however one which had a “actual impression at a time when there have been so many individuals within the harmful, treacherous waters between Cuba and Florida making an attempt to get right here.”

Tom @LlamasNBC explaining to these unaware of the significance of right now’s DOJ indictment of Raul Castro and the Cuban regime’s lethal 1996 shootdown of the Brothers to the Rescue airplane…

“[F]or our viewers throughout the nation who’re watching this, they could be a bit confused… pic.twitter.com/IYj0GgxK7a

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) Might 20, 2026

Longtime NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell was the lone voice to border the indictment solely as a Trump-connected venture, however nonetheless stated many consider an indictment “will…write this 30-year mistaken” with Secretary of State Marco Rubio having lengthy opposed the Cuban regime because the son of Cuban immigrants.

Llamas dug deeper on the historical past angle with Saturday NBC Nightly Information anchor, longtime Telemundo anchor, and fellow Floridian Jose Diaz-Balart.

In an interesting collection of explanations, Llamas centered on how the Castros had a spy community inside the US that aided within the assault whereas Diaz-Balart detailed how the shootdowns occurred (click on the X publish to learn the transcript):

Following the occasion, Diaz-Balart relayed the indignant response from the present Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel falsely claiming the Brothers to the Rescue was “a narco-terrorist” group. 

Diaz-Balart additionally praised the indictment as “a talking indictment” and thus “not simply the declaration of the fees, however…a story that factors very on to Raúl Castro’s duty in any resolution that was taken to knock down these planes” and the spy community Llamas referenced earlier.

As soon as O’Donnell stated her piece detailing how the indictment offered “a way of the historical past of the case” however doubtless didn’t reveal all of the playing cards and proof the federal government has, senior White Home correspondent Gabe Gutierrez chimed in along with his personal views, notably the stark change from then-President Barack Obama’s chummy 2016 go to to see Raúl Castro (click on “broaden”):

However you bear in mind, Tom, within the Maduro raid, lots of Maduro safety have been Cubans. So, there are lots of questions on how this strikes ahead. We have now reporting during the last a number of months that President Trump has been rising more and more annoyed by the Cuban authorities remaining in energy, regardless of the gas shortages which have erupted throughout the island. And if I may level out, Tom, this actually factors to during the last decade or so, the sharp distinction in coverage from the Trump administration to the Obama administration earlier than it. I used to be there in 2014, 2015, with that thaw of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S. And also you keep in mind that final speaker — the Florida Lawyer Common — talked about that he didn’t title him by title, however President Obama really attended a baseball sport with Raul Castro in Havana, and that was a reference to that. Actually, Kelly was referring to the political dynamics of all this. However we see simply how far the Trump administration has come from the Obama administration earlier than it, making a calculation that it doesn’t need any form of speaking with the Cuban regime. It’s shedding endurance with it. And the CIA director’s go to there final week, definitely the leaking of images from that from that go to amounted to an escalation of the strain marketing campaign. And also you’re proper, that’s the main query. What occurs subsequent? Will the U.S. now by some means go into Cuba and produce Raul Castro again right here to face these fees? He turns 95 years outdated subsequent month.

Llamas closed with a poignant five-minute interview of Miriam de la Pena, whose son Mario was one of many 4 males killed within the shoot down.

POWERFUL: NBC’s Tom @LlamasNBC interviews Miriam de la Pena, the mom of Mario de la Pena, one of many People killed within the lethal 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown by the Cuban navy, about her feelings listening to the U.S. has indicted Raul Castro and 5 others in her… pic.twitter.com/9V4OuIBOB9

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) Might 20, 2026

Requested what this second meant to her, she emphatically instructed Llamas that is “the primary day of us being on the highway to search out justice” and the primary time her son and the three others killed “are checked out as human beings who have been murdered beneath a dictatorship, who prolonged their tentacles to worldwide waters to kill Americans. And that can not be allowed.”

“I believe it’s the appropriate factor to do…You kill Americans, the US must defend these residents. You and I may have been killed. America wants to face up for its residents. What are we right here for? Defend our residents from murderers…I really feel like we’re — we’re human beings. Earlier than, we have been ignored. We’re not ignored anymore…There have been 4 harmless males making an attempt to do good for society, and they didn’t need to die that means,” she later added.

Llamas closed by asking what she’d say to Raúl Castro. Right here was her reply:

You’re going to get what you deserve. You might be being referred to as by what you’re right now. You’re a assassin. Now, you’ll have, in the US — your rights will probably be is not going to be violated such as you violate the rights of the Cuban individuals. You should have rights in the US being revered and you’ll serve a simply sentence should you’re discovered responsible, which I’ve little question that you’ll be discovered responsible.

“Miriam de la Pena, your husband, I do know, is correct subsequent to you. We thanks a lot for speaking to us. We’re sorry for what you and your loved ones have struggled via and gone via over these 30 years, and I do know right now is a monumental day for you. We will see what shall occur within the days and weeks forward,” Llamas stated in response.

To see the related transcripts from Might 20, click on right here (for ABC) and right here (for NBC).