U.S. Officials Signal Readiness for Cuba Action as Rhetoric Escalates

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that a failed state 90 miles from American shores poses national security risks. He cited the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces-operated conglomerate GAESA, which controls roughly 70 percent of the island's economy, and stated that Cuba is run by incompetent communists.

The same day, Politico reported that the Pentagon has spent months positioning troops and weapons for a possible military attack on Cuba, pending approval from President Donald Trump. Rubio made no reference to Raúl Castro, who was indicted last week over the 1996 shoot-down of two U.S. civilian aircraft.

Parrilla told MS NOW that charges against Castro are politically motivated and illegal. He said any war would lead to a bloodbath, the deaths of thousands of Cubans, and the deaths of young Americans, and he noted an ongoing energy blockade that has caused food shortages.

Rodriguez added that Cuba would defend itself if attacked. The blockade has prevented Venezuelan oil shipments from reaching Cuban shores for months.

A historian at UCLA said the Cuban population is more united and more opposed to U.S. intervention than populations in Venezuela or Iran. The historian noted that Cuba has viewed U.S. actions since the 1898 Platt Amendment and the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion as violations of sovereignty.

The historian also said GAESA's control of large parts of the economy distinguishes Cuba from Venezuela, and warned that any post-intervention model could resemble Haiti, Puerto Rico, or the Dominican Republic.