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The Pentagon has spent months positioning the troops and weapons needed for the United States to launch a military attack on Cuba and is waiting for the final go-ahead from President Donald Trump, Politico reported on May 27.
The U.S. began escalating against Cuba earlier this year, right after Trump ordered a special operation to capture Nicolas Maduro, the long-term leader of Havana’s ally Venezuela. More than 30 Cuban troops who were guarding Maduro’s residency in Caracas were killed in the operation.
The Trump administration has since vowed to starve Cuba of oil, amid one of the worst energy crises in the history of the communist-ruled nation.
The U.S. president floated an invasion of the island after economic and political pressure failed to topple the communist government, and according to Politico, which noted that the naval built-up presence in the region would allow the U.S. to act immediately.
The report said that the strategically placed assets set the table for military action, from a capture of Havana’s leadership much like the capture of Maduro, to a series of precision strikes.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group entered the Caribbean in May, along with several guided missile destroyers and cruisers. Politico also noted that the USS Kearsarge amphibious ships and escorts, which carry 2,500 Marines, are off the coast of Virginia preparing for a new deployment, and could replace some ships heading home.
In addition, an array of advanced American drones and surveillance aircraft have also circled Cuba for months, according to flight tracking sites.
Cuba is “in a lot of trouble,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier on May 27 at a full Cabinet meeting. “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.”
A separate report by Axios published on May 28 painted a slightly different picture, hinting that the U.S. is still betting on unrest in Cuba. It said that Trump is bracing for the potential collapse of the government there as early as this summer, and has war-gamed new military response plans in case the island descends into chaos.
“The best way to describe it is ‘accelerationism,’” one senior administration official told the news website, referring to the philosophy of hastening societal collapse.
“But we don’t want to kill off the regime just yet. There’s a method to this. It’s in stages,” he added.
The report also revealed that U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the Caribbean, held last month a multiagency “tabletop” exercise to prepare for military action in Cuba..
“Everything is on the table, but no invasion is planned or imminent,” another senior official told Axios. “When POTUS says go, we’re ready for anything.”
All in all, there is little doubt that the U.S. will intervene in Cuba, most likely before the end of the year. The intervention could come with little to no warning signs, as the Pentagon is clearly already ready to go on. Still, the shape of the intervention remains vague, and one of the senior officials who spoke to Axios noted that Trump “does not want boots on the ground for more than 48 hours.”
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