The president Donald Trump has lost patience with the Cuban regime and has begun to pressure his advisors to explain why months of intense U.S. pressure have not succeeded in causing its collapse.
This was revealed this Monday by NBC News, citing two government officials, a former official, and three individuals familiar with the conversations as sources.
Despite officials at the White House believing that the regime could fall before the end of 2026 without the need for military intervention, Trump considers that timeline too long and demands quicker results, according to the cited source.
In light of the growing frustration of the president, the Pentagon has begun to update and expedite contingency plans for a possible military action against Cuba, although sources cited by the AP indicated last Thursday that there is no imminent military action.
The Trump administration's maximum pressure strategy has accumulated over 240 sanctions since January 2026, an effective oil embargo that has reduced Cuban fuel imports by between 80 and 90%, and the interception of at least seven tankers in international waters.
Last Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new sanctions package that directly targets the economic heart of the regime: the military conglomerate GAESA, which controls between 40 and 70% of Cuba's formal economy, its president Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera, and the state mining company Moa Nickel S.A., a joint venture with the Canadian company Sherritt International.
"These sanctions are part of the Trump administration's comprehensive campaign to address the urgent national security threats posed by the communist regime of Cuba," Rubio declared while announcing the measures.
Rubio described GAESA as "the heart of Cuba's kleptocratic communist system," with estimated illicit assets ranging from 18 to 20 billion dollars in overseas accounts.
Foreign companies have until June 5 to cease operations with GAESA under the threat of secondary sanctions. Sherritt International has already suspended operations in Cuba, repatriated its employees, and saw its stock drop by 30%.
Washington also offered Havana tens of millions in humanitarian aid, free access to Starlink for two years for all Cubans, and agricultural and infrastructure assistance in exchange for political and economic reforms. The regime rejected the offer, as confirmed by the White House.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla responded with a direct warning in an interview with ABC News: "It seems that the U.S. government has chosen a dangerous path, a path that could lead to unimaginable consequences, to a humanitarian catastrophe, to genocide, to the loss of Cuban lives and young Americans, and it could also lead to a bloodbath in Cuba."
Rodríguez stated that there has been no "progress" in the discussions between the two countries and that issues related to the Cuban political system are "not on the table."
The regime is facing this pressure amid its worst crisis in three decades: blackouts of up to 25 hours a day across more than 55% of the territory and a projected GDP contraction of 7.2% for 2026.
Trump himself summarized his position on March 30: "Cuba is finished. They have bad leadership, very bad and corrupt... Cuba will be next. It’s a disaster, a failed state. It will fail very soon and we will be there to help."
Meanwhile, the Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel has responded to each pressure with the same phrase: "Surrender is not part of our vocabulary."
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