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The U.S. military escalation in the Caribbean continues alongside a diplomatic battle being fought on social media.
Following the accusations made by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez against the United States and Florida politicians, Congress member Carlos A. Giménez responded with a direct message on X, warning high officials of the Cuban regime and their allies in Venezuela.
"Bruno, be careful that the ship may set sail and take all of you, the narcoterrorist henchmen of the murderous dictatorship in Cuba. The people will not defend you; on the contrary. Homeland and Life," wrote the Cuban-American legislator.
His comment arose after Bruno Rodríguez himself publicly denounced what he described as a "military aggression against Venezuela," following the entry of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier into the Caribbean, accompanied by eight warships, a nuclear submarine, and F-35 planes, as part of the Southern Lance operation.
Rodríguez accused the State Department of trying to "normalize and legitimize" an attack against a sovereign nation, while also blaming politicians in Florida for inciting military actions against the government of Nicolás Maduro.
The Cuban chancellor stated that Washington uses a "dishonest ploy" by linking the Venezuelan leader to drug trafficking and terrorism.
In his statement, he claimed that these scourges have been "promoted in this region by the U.S. government, its intelligence and drug agencies, and by individuals associated" with the same leaders from Florida whom he accuses of pushing for an intervention.
The response in the United States was swift.
Before Giménez's words, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio had reacted with a completely different gesture: he posted a GIF of a clown with a red wig on X. Without a single word, his mockery was the most precise and viral political reply of the day.
The weather is not insignificant. The U.S. deployment occurs while the White House claims that the operation aims to "cut the drug trafficking routes" associated with the Cartel de los Soles, which the State Department will officially designate as a terrorist organization starting November 24.
However, Caracas sees a threat of intervention, and from Havana, the narrative is echoed that Washington is building pretexts to justify a war.
That tension was compounded by an unexpected element when President Donald Trump hinted that there could be "conversations" with Maduro, a vague message that seemed to contradict the prevailing military rhetoric and left the door open for a possible diplomatic shift.
In this still uncertain context, the verbal clash between Rodríguez and figures such as Rubio and Giménez reflects more than just a political disagreement: it illustrates the depth of geopolitical confrontation, the fears of chavismo, and the stance of the Cuban-American diaspora, which does not believe in manufactured war threats but rather in a regime incapable of withstanding real pressure.
The question now is whether the tension will continue to escalate or if, amidst military deployments and inflammatory messages, there will still be room for diplomacy.
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