CUBA’S former president Raul Castro has appeared in public for the first time since being indicted by the United States over his alleged role in the 1996 shooting-down of two aircraft operated by US-based Cuban exiles, official video footage released on Saturday shows.

Mr Castro was seen celebrating his 95th birthday with top officials and military leaders at the Ministry of Interior in Havana on Friday night, demonstrating that Cuba’s socialist government remains defiant as the Trump administration escalates its campaign of pressure on the fuel-starved island.

State television broadcast footage of Mr Castro, wearing military uniform, entering a packed theatre to a standing ovation, followed by his grandson and bodyguard Raul Guillermo Rodriguez and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Mr Diaz-Canel paid tribute to the “heroism and dignity” displayed by Mr Castro and his late brother Fidel. He said that the “courage and loyalty” of Raul Castro, who was Cuba’s defence minister for nearly 50 years, had “made him a target from a very early age for the intelligence services of our enemies.”

Mr Diaz-Canel also warned that “there will be a decisive and resolute battle” if Washington tries to carry out its threatened invasion.

“Raul is Raul,” he said, echoing the slogan that has appeared in billboards across Havana and in a flood of social media posts since the May 20 US murder indictment of Mr Castro, who formally retired from politics in April 2021. “Raul is Cuba and Cuba is untouchable.”

The Justice Department’s indictment, unsealed last month, accuses Mr Castro of ordering the 1996 shoot-down of the aircraft used by Miami-based anti-communist group Brothers to the Rescue. It was the steepest in a series of escalations since the US all but cut off Cuba’s oil supplies in January.