The Pentagon is intensifying plans for operations in Cuba should President Donald Trump give the green light, according to a new report.
USA Today reported on the development, citing two sources familiar with the matter. It is unclear whether Trump has given any orders, but he has told press he is focused on the war in Iran at the moment and might "stop by Cuba after we're finished."
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has addressed the possibility recently, saying that Havana will fight back should an attack take place.
Speaking to NBC News last week, he warned the Trump administration against potentially invading the island or carrying out an operation similar to the one in Venezuela, when U.S. forces captured Venezuela's former authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.
"If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we'll die, because as our national anthem says, 'Dying for the homeland is to live,'" Diaz-Canel added.
He went on to say that the country's strategy is based on a "war of all the people," which he described as a defensive doctrine involving broad public participation. He also warned that any U.S. attack would cause "immense losses for both nations and peoples," with "incalculable" human and material costs.
Diaz-Canel also rejected stepping down despite the Trump administration's ongoing pressure. "In Cuba, the people who are in leadership positions are not elected by the U.S. government, and they don't have a mandate from the U.S. government," he said.
"We have a free sovereign state, a free state. We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States," he added, claiming that "stepping down is not part of our vocabulary."
A White House official reacted to the remarks, saying that the Trump administration is holding talks with the country and the president believes a deal can "be very easily made." "Cuba is a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela," the official added.
Other reports have noted that the administration is holding talks with Cuban officials led by Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of Raul Castro and great-nephew of Fidel. He has appeared alongside senior Cuban officials in recent meetings and is now acting as an interlocutor in discussions with U.S. counterparts.
