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The president Donald Trump published a presidential message this Wednesday for Cuban Independence Day in which he warned that the United States “will not tolerate a rogue state that harbors military, intelligence, and terrorist operations hostile to just ninety miles from U.S. territory.”
The statement, issued from the White House on the occasion of the 124th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Cuba, does not accuse the Havana regime of conducting its own military operations against the U.S., but of harboring foreign hostile actors on its territory, a nuance that the administration has consistently maintained in previous documents.
Trump described the Cuban regime as a "direct betrayal of the nation for which its founding patriots fought and died" and stated that its military leaders "have shown no interest in ensuring the prosperity of the Cuban people, focusing their attention solely on maintaining control and violently exporting communism and despotism abroad".
In the message, the president also referred to the capture and extradition of “Venezuelan narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro” in January 2026 as a direct warning sign to the Cuban regime: “The formal charges and the expulsion of Maduro sent a clear message to his socialist allies in Havana: this is our hemisphere, and those who destabilize it and threaten the United States will face consequences.”
Trump also highlighted the sanctions imposed following that operation: "I have enacted powerful new sanctions against Cuba's military and intelligence apparatus, and against those who provide them with material and financial support, depriving the regime of resources and its elites of the opportunity to profit from the suffering of the people."
The message comes amid a sustained increase in pressure against Havana. On May 18, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Cuban Intelligence Directorate (DGI/G2) and nine high-ranking officials, including commanders from the Revolutionary Armed Forces. On May 7, Washington sanctioned the military conglomerate GAESA and its president, Ania Guillermina Lastres Morera.
On May 1, Trump signed a new executive order that expanded sanctions against Cuban officials responsible for repression and threats to U.S. national security, in line with Executive Order 14380 signed in January, which declared a national emergency regarding Cuba and linked the regime to Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
In parallel, on Tuesday Politico reported that the Pentagon and Southern Command had begun planning military scenarios against Cuba, ranging from targeted airstrikes to a land invasion, although Trump has not made a definitive decision.
At the end of April, the Senate rejected by a vote of 51-47 a resolution that would have limited Trump's ability to order military actions against Cuba without Congressional authorization.
This Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared a video message with the Cuban people in which he offered a new relationship between the U.S. and Cuba, involving 100 million dollars in food and medicine, conditional on the agreement being directly with the people and not with GAESA.
Trump ended his message with a promise: «We will not rest until the people of Cuba regain the freedom that their ancestors fought so valiantly to establish more than 100 years ago».
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