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More than 30 Democratic congress members sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding that it discard any plans for military action against Cuba and refrain from using the naval base at Guantánamo to detain Cuban migrants, according to a report by the EFE agency.
The letter was led by representative Delia Ramírez from Illinois and addressed to the secretaries of Defense, Pete Hegseth; State, Marco Rubio; and Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin.
Lawmakers described a potential intervention as "illegal, profoundly destabilizing, and catastrophic for the Cuban population, in addition to further increasing displacement, worsening mass suffering, and harming U.S. interests in the region," and warned that it "must be unequivocally rejected."
The letter arrives at a time of sustained escalation in Trump's rhetoric towards Cuba. On May 2, the president stated at a rally that he would take control of the island "almost immediately" after the war with Iran concludes.
One day before the letter, Secretary Hegseth stated that Cuba poses "a threat to the national security" of the United States, a statement to which the Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded by warning that a "military aggression" would lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and a "bloodbath" for both countries.
Regarding the plans to use Guantánamo for Cuban migrants, the Democrats were unequivocal: "Planning their detention in Guantánamo is not a response to migration, but an attempt to contain the consequences of the very policies that are causing it."
These plans emerged during a Congressional hearing in March, when a senior official from Southern Command suggested sending Cuban migrants to Guantánamo in the event of an increase in migration flows from the island.
The Democratic initiative in the House comes two weeks after the Senate blocked a war powers resolution presented by Senators Tim Kaine, Ruben Gallego, and Adam Schiff to prevent military actions against Cuba without Congressional authorization, with a vote of 51 to 47 against it.
On Wednesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that "no Republican has ever spoken to him about Cuba," ignoring public warnings from six senators of his own party who expressed opposition to a military operation, including John Thune, James Lankford, Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Rand Paul.
The Republican senators who warned Trump about Cuba made their position clear: Lankford stated that "there is a lot of economic pressure that can be applied to Cuba and that makes a significant difference on its own," while Capito pointed out that military action on the island "is very low on the list, if it is on there at all."
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has updated contingency plans for a potential intervention, although sources from the Department of Defense insist that there is no imminent action.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against Cuba, including new measures targeting the military conglomerate GAESA announced on May 7, as part of a maximum pressure strategy aimed at hastening the fall of the regime.
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