A USA Today report says the Pentagon is “quietly ramping up” preparations that could enable a U.S. attack on Cuba if ordered by President Donald Trump, according to reporters Kim Hjelmgaard, Rick Jervis and Francesca Chambers citing “sources familiar” with the matter.
Trump has repeatedly signaled that Cuba could be a target. In recent remarks he quipped, “we may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this,” in reference to the ongoing conflict he linked to U.S. and allied actions in the region. He has also said he expects “the honor of taking Cuba,” and declared, “Whether I free it, take it — I think I can do anything I want,” remarks that evoked older imperial rhetoric from the era when the United States seized territories from Spain.
The USA Today story prompted alarm among peace advocates. David Adler, co‑coordinator of Progressive International, warned on social media that Trump may be preparing an illegal new war against Cuba “to appease the Miami mafia” and urged organizing to prevent such action.
Many Cubans, who have endured a long-standing U.S. economic embargo and decades of hardship, have downplayed the threats, noting that Cuba’s socialist government has survived repeated U.S. pressure. Cuban President Miguel Díaz‑Canel told NBC’s Meet the Press that “if that happens, there will be fighting… we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die,” echoing a line from Cuba’s national anthem about dying for the homeland.
Observers said they were shocked by the report but not surprised that Trump — who has described himself as a “peace president” while ordering strikes in several countries — might target Cuba, a nation long coveted by U.S. policymakers. During his first term he rolled back much of the Obama administration’s diplomatic opening with Havana, invoked the Helms‑Burton Act to allow lawsuits over property seized after the 1959 Revolution, and on his last day in office re‑designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a move critics called baseless given Cuba’s lack of recent terrorist acts and the historical record of violent actions by militant exile groups and U.S.-backed plots.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has intensified economic and military pressure on Cuba, tightening the embargo and imposing stricter limits on fuel imports. Those measures have worsened an energy emergency on the island, producing blackouts and, according to reports, harmful or fatal effects on vulnerable people, including the sick and children.
In Congress, Senators Tim Kaine (D‑Va.), Adam Schiff (D‑Calif.) and Ruben Gallego (D‑Ariz.) introduced a war powers resolution intended to prohibit the president from launching military action against Cuba without congressional authorization. Earlier resolutions aimed at constraining military actions related to Iran, Venezuela and other situations have not passed.
The USA Today reporting and the reactions it provoked have heightened concerns among activists and some lawmakers about the prospect of renewed U.S. military confrontation with Cuba.
Source: Common Dreams. Article by Brett Wilkins, a San Francisco‑based journalist who contributes to Common Dreams and CounterPunch and is a member of the anti‑war Collective 20.
