Marco Rubio and Donald Trump (Image: Getty)
A senior figure in Donald Trump’s administration has sparked invasion fears for Cuba after he declared the island nation is a “national security threat” to the US. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s most senior voice on foreign affairs, announced the shift in temperature towards the Caribbean country this week.
Cuba, which lies just over 90 miles off the US mainland, has long been a thorn in the side of successive White House governments as it remains America’s closest communist neighbour. On Wednesday the United States announced Former Cuban President Raúl Castro was accused of ordering the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles, killing two US nationals. The charges include murder and destruction of an airplane.
Castro, a relative of famous revolutionary leader Fidel, was minister of defence for Cuba at the time. The announcement of charges towards a member of the ruling dynasty in Cuba has drawn comparisons with the US tactics towards Venezuela earlier this year. American special forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife during a military attack on the country in January after prosecutors charged the pair with drug trafficking offences.
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Protesters in Cuba outside the US embassy in the capital Havana (Image: Getty)
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez accused Mr Rubio of “lies” and said the island had never posed a threat to the US. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Mr Rubio said diplomacy “remains our preference with Cuba”, but added: “I’m just being honest with you, you know, the likelihood of that happening, given who we’re dealing with right now, is not high.”
Mr Rubio later posted on X that Cuba was “one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region”.
The BBC reports Mr Rubio said Washington’s preference was “a diplomatic solution” but warned that President Donald Trump had the right and obligation to protect his country against any threat.
Before the US attack on Venezuela in January, Mr Rubio announced that America had identified a terrorist organisation it was claimed was linked to President Maduro.
It perhaps the clearest signal of looming intervention in Cuba, President Trump said on Thursday that previous US presidents had considered intervening with the island for decades but that “it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.”
“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something,” Trump told reporters when asked about Cuba during an environmental event in the Oval Office. “And, it looks like I’ll be the one that does it. So, I would be happy to do it.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has Cuban ancestry (Image: Getty)
The indictment of the former Cuban president and remarks by Trump and Mr Rubio have renewed fears of a possible US military strike in Cuba, much like what happened in Venezuela in early January.
“We expect that he will show up here, by his own will or by another way,” acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the charges against the former Cuban president during a press conference in Miami.
Cuba’s socialist government condemned the charges and held a rally on Friday to honour Castro.
Thousands of people crowded into Havana’s famed seawall to demonstrate their support for him and decry the indictment against him. Raúl Castro, 94, did not attend, but present were his grandson and his daughter, Mariela Castro.
“Who do they think they are to judge Raúl?” Gerardo Hernández asked as the crowd that had gathered in front of the US embassy cheered. Hernández is one of five Cubans accused of being a spy who was imprisoned and later released by the US in 2014.
“For the United States, the law is a tailor-made suit,” he said before punching the air with this fist to a shout of “Viva Raúl!”
The crowd responded to his call: “Homeland or death, we will vanquish!”
