President Donald Trump is reportedly growing impatient with the Cuban government’s ability to hold onto power despite the U.S.’s pressure campaign.
“White House officials believe the regime could still fall by the end of this year without military intervention, but Trump has found that timeline insufficient,” reported NBC News. “In response to the president’s frustrations, the Defense Department began updating plans for possible action.”
The Pentagon is now updating plans for possible military action in Cuba in case Trump orders an attack, according to two U.S. officials and a former official. U.S. officials have told the president that the regime, currently led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, “could still fall by the end of the year” without military intervention.
However, Trump doesn’t seem willing to wait that long, reported NBC News White House reporter Katherine Doyle.
The Cuban government hasn’t given any indication that they’re willing to give up power or offer concessions despite U.S. sanctions and military action against Venezuela in January.
The White House responded to the outlet’s request for comment, pointing to Marco Rubio’s comments faulting Cuba for rejecting the U.S’s offer of $100 million in humanitarian aid.
The Secretary of State said that it is “an unacceptable status quo” that the U.S. has “90 miles from our shores a failed state that also happens to be friendly territory for some of our adversaries.”
The administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign, which included restricted oil shipments and increased sanctions, but Díaz-Canel has held fast despite it all.
“Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work and a political and governmental system that can’t fix it. So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said in March. “They’ve got big decisions to make over there.”
Last month, Díaz-Canel told NBC News that he’s willing to give his life “for the revolution” if it comes to that. “If the time comes, I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the U.S. to undertake a surgical operation, like the kidnapping of a president,” he said, referring to the U.S. campaign that ousted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle. And we’ll defend ourselves. And if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘Dying for the homeland is to live,’” said Díaz-Canel.