US President Donald Trump has again raised the possibility of military intervention in Cuba, warning that he may be the one to take action after decades of inaction. Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said, “Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something. And it looks like I’ll be the one that does it. So I would be happy to do it.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a long-time hardliner against the island’s socialist leadership, said the administration’s preference was a negotiated settlement but admitted the likelihood of reaching a diplomatic resolution with the current Cuban government “is not high”. Rubio spoke in Miami before travelling to a Nato meeting in Sweden and visiting India.
The latest threats come amid a renewed US campaign against Havana, which this week saw the indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro on charges of murder and destruction of an aircraft in connection with the 1996 shootdown of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles. The indictment, filed in secret in April, has fuelled speculation that the Trump administration may be following a similar playbook to that used before the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The US military has also highlighted the arrival of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the Caribbean Sea, coinciding with the announcement of charges against Castro. US Southern Command said the vessel was participating in maritime exercises with Latin American partners that began in March.
Rubio declined to discuss how the US might enforce the indictment against Castro, who turns 95 next month. He dismissed suggestions that the approach amounted to “nation-building”, insisting it was aimed at addressing a national security threat posed by Cuba’s ties to US adversaries. “They’re not going to be able to wait us out or buy time,” he said. “We’re very serious, we’re very focused.”
This month, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Cuba, including against Grupo de Administración Empresarial SA (Gaesa), a business conglomerate run by the Cuban military. Rubio also announced that the sister of Gaesa’s executive president, who was living in the US, had her green card revoked and was taken into ICE custody, stating that past administrations had allowed “the families of Cuban military elites ... to enjoy lavish lifestyles in our country funded by stolen blood-money”.
