As the United States has been ratcheting up pressure on Cuba, including indicting Raúl Castro, the former chairman of the Council of State who is seen as the regime's power behind the scenes, in a U.S. court, an analysis emerged that the U.S. Department of Defense is carrying out advance preparatory work for an invasion of Cuba.
On the 27th (local time), Politico reported, "The U.S. Department of Defense has spent months deploying the troops and weapons needed for a military strike on Cuba, and now only President Donald Trump's final approval remains," adding, "Augmented to the world's largest outside the Middle East, the U.S. Navy's Caribbean force allows the United States to act immediately."
In the Trump administration as well, remarks hinting at the need for military action against Cuba have followed. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a full Cabinet meeting that Cuba is "in serious trouble" and that "having a failed state 90 miles off our coast is a threat to U.S. national security." He also said last week that "Cuba allows Russian and Chinese intelligence services to operate in the country," emphasizing that Cuba has posed a threat to U.S. security.
For months, the United States has deployed major strategic assets in large numbers near the Caribbean. On the day the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Castro, U.S. Southern Command posted on social media (SNS) a video announcing the deployment to the Caribbean of a carrier strike group centered on the Nimitz aircraft carrier and the Gridley destroyer. Mark Cancian, a senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said, "The Nimitz appears to have been deployed primarily for its deterrent effect, but it could be committed to military operations if necessary."
According to flight-tracking sites, advanced U.S. surveillance drones and reconnaissance planes have also been operating for months in the airspace near Cuba. The Kearsarge-class amphibious assault ship, which can transport about 2,500 Marines, and its escorts are preparing for additional deployment off the Virginia coast and are reportedly likely to replace some vessels slated to return.
However, extended operations by major warships deployed in the Caribbean are seen as a burden. Many of the ships have been at sea for 10 months, far exceeding the usual six to seven months of deployment. As a result, defense officials are concerned about crew fatigue and force depletion, which Politico said is adding to the load on the U.S. Navy, which is also conducting an operation in the Arabian Sea to blockade Iranian vessels.
In fact, the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford recently returned after an 11-month extended deployment shuttling between Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East. The Nimitz, which was initially slated to begin the decommissioning process, has had its service period extended by the U.S. Navy through 2027.
An anonymous military official told Politico, "This kind of back-to-back extended deployment builds up burdens over time," adding, "If you keep ships out in the field for too long, you end up with more long-term problems during maintenance and repairs after they return to port."