Havana's Malecón waterfront, Cuba. Photo: Ezarate, CC BY-SA 4.0.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he wants to "get Cuba done" before he leaves office and would "certainly consider" using American military force against the island, including a campaign lasting about a week — the first time he has put a timeline on possible military action against Cuba.
The remarks came in a telephone interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on the Salem News Channel. Asked whether he would order military force before leaving office if freeing Cuba required it, Trump said: "Well, I want to get Cuba done before I leave, yeah. And we have a very good, talented guy for Cuba named Marco." When Hewitt pressed him on whether a brief campaign of about a week would be acceptable, Trump replied: "I would be — I would certainly consider that, yes."
Trump's term ends in January 2029. Politico reported that the interview was the first time Trump had attached a timeline to a possible operation against Cuba.
Rubio at the center of the Cuba plan
Trump pointed immediately to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents emigrated from Cuba, as the official who would lead the effort. "Marco Rubio, his parents are from Cuba, as you probably know, and he would love to do that," Trump said. "So we're watching it very closely."
Trump described Cuba as "essentially a failed, you know, place, nation, whatever you want to call it," and said the island was "doing very poorly." He also said he wanted to act in the interests of Cubans who left the island and settled in the United States. Trump said he won the Cuban vote in Florida by 94 percent, a claim he has made about his support among Cuban Americans in the state.
Trump announced no order, no decision and no operation, and the White House has announced no military planning for Cuba. As of early Friday, no response from the Cuban government to the interview had been reported.
A shift from September
The remarks mark a change in tone from late September, when Trump told reporters he expected a deal with Havana and said, "I don't think we'll need the military." Earlier this week, on Monday, he said Cuba "will fall fairly soon" and that the United States would help it "on a humanitarian basis."
Trump has repeatedly suggested that Cuba's communist government could be nearing its end. In March, after the January 3 U.S. military operation in Venezuela that captured and removed President Nicolás Maduro, he told reporters he might be "having the honor of taking Cuba." Washington has since restricted oil shipments to Cuba, and the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions this month against Cuban oil tankers and shipping firms.
In March, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, General Francis Donovan, told senators that American troops were not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba. Trump has not explained what circumstances would lead him to authorize force, or what "getting Cuba done" would mean in practice.
Pressure already building on Havana
Cuba is suffering severe fuel shortages, blackouts and a deepening economic crisis, worsened by the U.S. oil restrictions. On Thursday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected a joint declaration by G7 foreign ministers that urged Cuba to enact political and economic reforms, release detained people and improve humanitarian aid delivery.
The United Nations General Assembly voted 130 to 17 on October 28 to call for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba, with 25 abstentions. An executive order signed on January 29 declared the Cuban government's policies a threat to the United States and set the framework for the current pressure campaign.
For now, nothing has been set in motion by the interview itself. But by naming a deadline — before he leaves office — and refusing to rule out a short military campaign, Trump has put Cuba on the list of countries where he is openly weighing the use of force, alongside the continuing war with Iran.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Newsmax, WION, Politico.