US President Donald Trump has said he wants to “get Cuba done” before leaving office in two years, adding that he is open to ordering a military operation against the island.
Speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, Trump made clear that he “would certainly consider” a week-long campaign against Cuba, which the US has kept under a de facto blockade while openly advocating for regime change.
“I want to get Cuba done before I leave. And we have a very good, talented guy for Cuba named Marco,” he said, referring to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents emigrated from Cuba and who has been particularly critical of the government in Havana.
Last month, Rubio urged Cuban dissidents seeking “positive change” to establish a “discrete partnership with the CIA.” He has also defended US sanctions, blaming Cuba’s leadership rather than the six-decade-old American embargo for the country’s worsening economic crisis.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio mocked Rubio’s comments, saying “there must be a great deal of desperation or misery within the agency for it to be forced to sell its services like a tube of toothpaste.”
The US escalated pressure on Cuba after the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January. Washington essentially cut Cuba off from crucial Venezuelan oil, while also threatening tariffs against other countries supplying the island.
The resulting fuel shortages have aggravated an already severe humanitarian crisis, bringing repeated nationwide blackouts and disrupting water supplies, transport, and healthcare. Russia, one of Cuba’s long-time close partners, sent hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to the island as humanitarian aid, although the shipment provided only temporary relief.
In July, CBS News reported that Pentagon planners had considered an air assault against Cuba involving thousands of US troops from the elite 101st Airborne Division. In September, the network reported an Army Reserve inquiry about support units, including police forces and medical personnel, which might be needed within 90 to 120 days as part of potential Cuba-related planning. Neither report indicated that Trump had ordered a military operation.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has accused Washington of seeking to create a “humanitarian catastrophe” through its fuel restrictions. President Miguel Diaz-Canel has also insisted that Cuba’s future would never be decided in Washington, warning that Havana would fight back against any US invasion.
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