Miami, FL
U.S. attorney in Miami targeting Cuban Communist leaders with new initiative, sources say
The top federal prosecutor in Miami is spearheading a new initiative targeting Cuban leaders for prosecution, sources familiar with the plan tell CBS News.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, is working with officials from federal and local law enforcement agencies and the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, to establish a new Cuban prosecution working group, the sources said. OFAC is the office responsible for imposing sanctions.
The group plans to focus on prosecutions involving economic crimes, drugs, violent crimes and immigration-related violations, with a focus on targeting those in the Communist Party leadership, the sources added.
A Justice Department spokesperson told CBS News: “Federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment. The plans for the new working group were reported earlier by the Washington Post.
President Trump has indicated he’s been eyeing Cuba’s leaders, after the U.S. ousted Venezuelan President Nicolàs Maduro and brought him to the United States to face drug charges in January, and recently launched a joint war with Israel against Iran last week that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The president told CNN in an interview on Friday that Cuba’s communist government was likely to be toppled next.
“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon,” Mr. Trump said, according to CNN.
Quiñones and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Yara Klukas are the same prosecutors who are separately leading an investigation into former Obama-era intelligence officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan, over an intelligence assessment that determined that Russia had tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to help benefit Mr. Trump.
Late last year, Quiñones’ office sent subpoenas to former government officials requesting a broad swath of records, including paper or digital documents, text messages and emails associated with the preparation of the intelligence community’s January 2017 assessment.
In recent weeks, updated subpoenas that expanded the date range for the documents were issued in the matter.
MIAMI — Christian Martinez was at the Metrowest Detention Center on Monday, facing charges for stealing three gold bracelets, a gold chain, a pair of shoes, and $100 at gunpoint after a crash in Miami, records show.
Martinez, who turns 30 on Wednesday, was driving his gray Honda Odyssey when he crashed in the Liberty City neighborhood, threatened two victims, and “displayed a silver handgun that was tucked in his waistband,” according to the police report.
While demanding cash, Martinez, of Allapattah, grabbed the gun and pointed it at the victim’s rib cage before also using the firearm to strike him “across the face,” according to the police report.
One of the victims escaped, and the other was injured during the armed robbery shortly after 4:10 a.m. on June 28 at Northwest Seventh Avenue and 52 Street, according to the police report.
“I obtained CCTV footage that captured the entirety of the robbery,” a Miami detective wrote, according to the police report.
Surveillance video shows Martinez at the Shell gas station at 5343 NW 7th Ave., before the armed robbery on June 28, and license plate readers show him “traveling northbound through the intersection of Northwest Second Avenue and 54 Street at 4:15 a.m., according to police.
Martinez’s face “can be clearly seen in this video,” a police officer wrote about the surveillance at the gas station, according to the police report.
Miami police officers arrested Martinez at 7 p.m. on July 2 at Northwest Sixth Avenue and 69 Street, and found a firearm in the car, according to the police report.
Corrections booked Martinez, also known as Christian Martinezguerra, shortly before 10:05 p.m. on July 2 at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Martinez-Guerra faced two felony charges in Miami-Dade County: Armed robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. A judge placed a pre-trial detention hold.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.
Three people are in the hospital after Miramar Police said a shooting and crash left them wounded early Sunday morning.
The department said it unfolded sometime before 6 a.m. along Sunshine Boulevard. Two men and one woman were reportedly shot in a car while heading west on the road. The shooting resulted in a crash.
Officers said they and Miramar Fire Rescue responded immediately, offered aid, and ensured all three victims were taken to a local hospital for treatment. As of publication, their conditions are unknown.
Police said investigators have limited information, but are looking for a white BMW that is believed to be involved in the shooting.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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