The Pentagon intensifies its plans for a possible military intervention in Cuba, according to US media

According to officials cited on condition of anonymity by the newspaper USA Todaythe Pentagon would be discreetly fine-tuning the plans they were already preparing for a possible operation on Cuba while awaiting direct orders from the US president, Donald Trump.

However, the War Department has stated in statements to the EFE Agency what I wouldn’t speculate on “what-if scenarios”although it has admitted that the armed forces provide for various contingencies and “remain prepared to execute the president’s orders.”

Although there is information that indicates a possible economic agreement between both governments to improve relations, it is not clear to what extent each party would give in, while the threats to Cuba by the tenant of the White House have not stopped going viral despite being in the middle of a war with Iran.

And, beyond strategic rhetoric, it seems that the plans could materialize when Trump decides to start them. Given the deteriorated state of the island, taking Cuba would require little effort for US forces. Even so, the majority of Cubans would not happily accept a change at the political level if it entailed being under the orders of the United States.

Tensions since Maduro’s capture

Trump toughened the pressure against the Government of Miguel Diaz-Canel in January blocking the shipment of Venezuelan crude oil since the capture of the president, Nicolás Maduro, on January 3rd. During this intervention, 32 Cuban soldiers who were guarding the Chavista president died.

The Republican has issued public threats to Havana on several occasions, stating that his next objective after Venezuela would be the island and expressing his desire to “take it” through a military operation if necessary because, he says, “it is in its last moments of life”: “Whether I liberate it or take it, I think I can do with it whatever I want,” he said.

The US oil blockade of the last three months has also aggravated a structural crisis that the island has been suffering for more than six years. The country’s economy has contracted by 15% between 2020 and 2025.

“It may be a friendly takeover… or it may not,” the US president said last March. Just as the US is doing with Maduro, it hopes to charge, capture and try Castro’s leaders.

However, these plans would have been put aside after the conflict with Iran began, a war that has not yet ended.

For its part, the Cuban government has opted for dialogue with Trump, although it has warned that “they are preparing in case they have to go to a state of war”: “We will defend ourselves to the last drop of blood“for” the homeland,” said Díaz-Canel when tensions reached their highest point, last January after the intervention in Venezuela.

But Trump’s interventionist insinuations continue: this same Monday the US president said that his military forces “they could make a stop in Cuba when they finish” in the Middle East.

Given this, the Cuban president warned that he will defend himself in this hypothetical scenario because, he maintains, the US does not have any valid justification for a military attack.

“If a military invasion happens, there will be fighting, there will be fighting, we will defend ourselves, and if we have to die, we will die, because as our national anthem says: ‘To die for one’s country is to live“, he expressed.

Furthermore, this same week the chancellor of Havana, Bruno Rodríguez, He has accused Washington of intimidating those who try to trade with the island and defended the Caribbean country’s right to import fuel.