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Donald Trump published a message this Tuesday on Truth Social that left many puzzled: «No Republican has ever talked to me about Cuba, which is a failed country and is only going in one direction: down! Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!».
The statement came hours after several Republican senators publicly warned the president against a military operation on the island, according to a report by the American media The Hill.
The timeline is not insignificant. Trump's message effectively served as a way to ignore and discredit the warnings from senators of his own party.
By stating this morning that "no Republican" had talked to him about Cuba, Trump acted as if he had not heard their statements, implicitly dismissing the arguments of those senators and reaffirming his determination to resolve the Cuban issue in his own way.
The legislators referred to by The Hill are not the Cuban-American congressmen —María Elvira Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart, Carlos Giménez, and Nicole Malliotakis— with whom the administration does maintain close dialogue and shares objectives.
The individuals mentioned in the publication by the U.S. mandate are Republican lawmakers from inland regions of the country, without ties to the Cuban-American community, who prioritize resolving the conflict with Iran.
The Senate Majority Leader, John Thune (R-S.D.), said on Monday that the priority is to "attempt to open the Strait of Hormuz." Although he acknowledged that he would "love" to see the Cuban regime fall, he expressed his preference for it to happen "organically," through economic pressure and a naval blockade.
Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.), vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, was more straightforward: when asked if he would support a military operation against Cuba, he replied succinctly, "No, I wouldn’t." He added that "there is a lot of economic pressure that can be applied to Cuba, which on its own makes a big difference."
The chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Susan Collins (R-Maine), responded with a simple "no" to the same question. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) was equally clear: "It's very low on the list, if it's on it at all. I think we need to focus on what is happening in Iran."
The senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was the most striking: he revealed that he had spoken with the Cuban ambassador and claimed that Havana "is open to negotiations, to better relations, and to American investment." "I want less war, not more," he stated.
Paul and Collins were, in fact, the only two Republicans who voted in favor of a Democratic resolution under the War Powers Act of 1973 to prevent military action in Cuba — a resolution that the Senate blocked last month due to an objection from Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.).
On his part, Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) expressed his trust in Trump and in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but indicated his preference for "less conflict than more, given what is happening in the world."
Trump's statement was not explicitly directed at any of these senators in particular, but it swept them off the map in one fell swoop.
Immediately, Salazar responded by reframing the message as a call to action: "Republicans know that you are the only person who can free Cuba after 67 years of oppression... We are waiting for you to give the order. And it will happen. With Marco Rubio leading the way."
Trump posted the message just before departing for China to meet with Xi Jinping, at a time when Beijing had requested Washington to lift sanctions against Cuba — turning the post into a politically significant gesture with multiple recipients.
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