Havana/Washington’s pressure on Havana escalated again this Wednesday after a series of statements by key figures of the Republican Party and US President Donald Trump himself, which point to a possible collapse of the Cuban regime in the short term, while alarms grow from the Democratic opposition over the possibility of new military operations in the region.
Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, one of Trump’s closest allies, assured that the Cuban Government could be overthrown “this year or next year”, as a direct consequence of the tightening of the economic siege on Venezuela and, in particular, the US quarantine on the South American country’s oil exports.
“I think it’s probably going to happen this year, maybe next year. It’s going to happen,” Scott said in an interview with journalist Blake Burman of the channel. NewsNation. The senator said he is convinced that the combined pressure – economic and political – will end up causing the collapse of the Cuban system. “It is going to be the end of the Díaz-Canel regime, of the Castro regime. We are in the process of making it happen right now,” he stressed.
Scott maintained that the Executive headed by Miguel Díaz-Canel “is beginning to crumble”, in a context marked by the energy crisis, the shortage of foreign currency and the loss of external support after Washington’s offensive against Caracas. According to the senator, the financial asphyxiation of the Venezuelan ally leaves Havana without its main source of income.
The leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, expressed concern about the possibility that Washington is considering additional military operations in countries such as Cuba or Colombia
Scott’s statements come a few days after Trump publicly stated that Cuba is “ready to fall,” referring to the impact of the US military operation in Caracas, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his transfer to the United States to be tried on narcoterrorism charges.
“Cuba seems to be about to fall. I don’t know how they’re going to resist, if they’re going to resist, but Cuba now has no income,” Trump said during a press conference last weekend. The president insisted that Havana depended almost entirely on Venezuelan oil. “They obtained all their income from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil. They are not receiving anything,” he stated.
While the Republican wing raises its tone, concern is growing in the Democratic Party about the scope of the Trump Administration’s foreign policy. The Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, expressed concern about the possibility that Washington is considering additional military operations in countries such as Cuba or Colombia.
Schumer made these statements after a briefing on Capitol Hill with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, in which the details of Maduro’s capture and the next steps of the White House on the international stage were discussed.
“I asked them if they were planning operations in other countries, including Colombia and Cuba, and I was very disappointed by their response,” Schumer told the media, without offering more details about the content of that conversation.
Trump himself has issued direct warnings to the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, with whom he has a tense relationship. On the same day of the operation in Caracas, the US president even said that Petro should “watch his ass,” amid accusations of his alleged involvement in regional drug trafficking.
Despite the belligerent tone, Trump maintained that, in the Cuban case, direct military action would not be necessary. “I don’t think any action is needed,” he said, insisting that the economic collapse would be enough to precipitate the fall of the Havana government.
