President Trump dramatically turned up the heat on Cuba Thursday, openly floating the possibility of U.S. military action against the communist island just one day after his administration slapped explosive criminal charges on former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump hinted he could be the president who finally takes direct action against Havana after decades of failed threats from Washington.
“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years,” Trump said. “It looks like I’ll be the one that does it.”
The jaw-dropping comments came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio — a longtime Cuba hawk and the son of Cuban immigrants — warned that the White House is done playing games with the regime.
Rubio accused Cuba of acting as a national security threat because of its cozy ties with America’s enemies, including China and Russia, and said the administration is losing patience with Havana after months of behind-the-scenes talks went nowhere.
“Cuba has gotten used to buying time and waiting us out,” Rubio said before departing for overseas meetings. “They’re not going to be able to wait us out this time. We’re very serious.”
While Rubio insisted Trump still prefers a peaceful negotiated deal, he admitted the odds of diplomacy succeeding are slim “given who we’re dealing with right now.”
And when pressed on whether the U.S. could use force to topple Cuba’s government, Rubio pointedly noted that Trump “always has the option to do whatever it takes to protect the national interest.”
The fiery rhetoric erupted just hours after federal prosecutors unsealed bombshell charges accusing 94-year-old Raúl Castro of ordering the 1996 shootdown of civilian planes flown by anti-Castro Cuban exiles from Miami.
The indictment accuses Castro of murder and destroying an aircraft in one of the most notorious incidents in U.S.-Cuba history.
Cuba’s current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, blasted the charges as a “political stunt” designed to justify possible American aggression against the island.
But critics say the move looks eerily similar to the Trump administration’s recent takedown of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who was captured earlier this year in a dramatic U.S. military operation and now sits in an American prison facing federal drug trafficking charges.
Fueling speculation even further, the Pentagon announced the arrival of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group in the Caribbean the very same day the Castro charges became public.
Officially, the Navy says the deployment is part of ongoing regional military exercises. Unofficially, it sent shockwaves through Havana.
Trump has steadily escalated pressure on Cuba since the Maduro operation, including tightening sanctions and imposing a crushing energy blockade that has triggered massive blackouts, food shortages and economic chaos across the island.
This month, the administration also targeted GAESA — the powerful military-run business empire that controls huge chunks of Cuba’s economy.
Rubio announced Thursday that the sister of a top GAESA executive had been stripped of her green card and arrested by ICE while living in the United States.
“Past administrations allowed the families of Cuban military elites to live lavishly in America while ordinary Cubans suffered,” Rubio declared. “No longer.”
Trump has increasingly talked up regime change in Cuba, previously warning he could pursue a “friendly takeover” unless Havana opened its economy to American business and cut ties with hostile foreign powers.
Rubio doubled down Thursday, accusing Cuba of helping China and Russia project influence into the Western Hemisphere and posing a growing danger to U.S. national security.
China quickly fired back, condemning American “interference” and declaring its support for Cuba’s sovereignty.
But with warships now circling the Caribbean, sanctions tightening and Trump openly talking about intervention, tensions between Washington and Havana are suddenly approaching their most dangerous level in years.
