Defense & National Security Newsletter

US, Cuba tensions flare amid threats of invasion

by Ellen Mitchell - 05/20/26 6:49 PM ET

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by Ellen Mitchell - 05/20/26 6:49 PM ET

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US, Cuba tensions flare amid threats of invasion

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz arrived in the Caribbean this week amid U.S. tensions with Cuba and as President Trump has threatened to invade the island.

The arrival of the strike group comes as the Department of Justice on Wednesday charged former Cuban President Raúl Castro with murder. The charge, among others, stems from the 1996 downing of two civilian planes over international waters, killing four people.

“It’s very important,” President Trump said. “It was a very big moment for people, not only Cuban Americans, but people who came from Cuba, that want to go back to Cuba, see their family in Cuba.”

But the charges against Castro are fueling speculation that the Trump administration is creating a pretext for military action against the communist regime, similar to the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in January.

They also come just days after a U.S. official, speaking anonymously to Axios, warned of Cuba’s drone fleet posing a risk to U.S. national security.

Trump insisted to reporters there would not be a U.S. escalation against Cuba as “the place is falling apart,” but said the country is “on our mind.”

That didn’t stop some Republicans from voicing their support for an invasion of the island, similar as to when the Trump administration launched a raid to capture Maduro.

“We shouldn’t take anything off the table. Same thing that happened to Maduro should happen to Raul Castro. But I’m not going to get ahead of whatever the Trump administration wants to do,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Wednesday.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) also on Wednesday encouraged Trump to invade Cuba.

“I think that’s exactly what should happen. And that’s exactly what is good for the United States, we cannot have these thieves running that island any longer,” Salazar said in a press conference ahead of the expected indictment of Castro.

The indictment was unveiled on Cuba’s Independence Day. Earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban American, put out a rare message in Spanish to the Cuban people to mark the occasion, backing the U.S. blockade of fuel to the island while blaming consistent power outages on the current communist regime.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe also met with Cuban officials on the island last week to emphasize that the timeframe for talks will not be open indefinitely.

Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & National Security newsletter, I’m Ellen Mitchell — your guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond.

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