Trump Threatens Cuban Sovereignty Again

President Donald Trump, as well as Marco Rubio, again threatened possible U.S. military intervention in Cuba, just one day after the administration announced criminal charges of murder against the island’s former leader, Raúl Castro.

“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something,” Trump said. He added, “… it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.” Marco Rubio stated Cuba has been a national security threat for years because of its ties to U.S. adversaries such as China and Russia.

Federal prosecutors unveiled a murder indictment that accuses Castro of ordering the 1996 shoot down of two civilian planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group. The group would fly to Cuba, pick up citizens and fly them out of the country. The Cuban government had warned such flights would not be tolerated. According to an original article written in 1996, there was debate whether the planes were in international airspace or Cuban airspace.

For the record, Raul Castro is 95-years old, perhaps near death. Why are we charging a former leader of another country, 30 years after the fact, for alleged murders that aren’t in United States airspace, and arguably, not international airspace? Bill Clinton was U.S. president at the time. If charges were going to be filed, it should have been under his administration. He had four years to do so.

As for Rubio’s comments about Cuba being a national security risk because they do business with China, Russia, and even Venezuela, could he be any more hypocritical? If that’s the case, the U.S. is its own national security risk. We conduct more trade with China than with any other nation excluding Canada and Mexico. We’re presently trying to get American oil companies to operate in Venezuela after Trump’s illegal kidnapping of that sovereign nation’s president, Nicholas Maduro.

Cuba’s relations with those countries doesn’t make them an automatic threat to the United States. It makes them a sovereign nation exercising their rights as a nation. Perhaps if U.S. presidents over the last 60 years would have eliminated all the sanctions against Cuba, instead of imposing endless sanctions, Cuba would be one of our important trading partners instead – perhaps even an ally despite communism.

Rubio, CIA chief John Ratcliffe, and other senior national security officials have met with Cuban officials in recent months to explore improvements in relations. However, like Iran, Cuba is not bowing down to our dictatorial demands. Hence, even more sanctions get imposed on the Cuban government, which in reality, only hurts its citizens – such as the oil blockade.

Cuban President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has condemned the indictment as a political stunt that sought to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.” I can’t help but to agree with him. Trump has interfered in Venezuela and Iran, and continues to demand obedience from Greenland and Cuba. As of now, the world’s most dangerous dictator, arguably sits in the White House.

Personally… well, let’s just say January 2029 can’t come quick enough, and let it at that.

Source used: Associated Press