Southcom commander meets with Cuban military officials as Trump amps up pressure on island
The head of U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) met with senior leaders of the Cuban military on Friday amid heightened tensions between the two countries’ governments.
Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan joined Cuba’s First Deputy Minister of the Chief of the General Staff Roberto Legrá Sotolongo and other leaders near Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Southcom announced in a statement shared on social media.
The Cuban and American military leaders engaged in a “brief exchange on operational security measures,” according to Southcom’s Friday statement.
The U.S. military commander also led a perimeter security assessment and discussed “operational readiness” with officials at the base during his Friday visit.
“Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is a vital operational and logistical hub that supports U.S. military efforts to counter threats that undermine security, stability and democracy in our hemisphere,” Southcom wrote in its Friday statement announcing Donovan’s visit.
The Trump administration has ramped up its opposition to the island’s communist government in recent weeks. The president has suggested he could launch a military invasion on the country.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban American, has repeatedly condemned the island’s leadership. However, he acknowledged last week that the “likelihood” of a negotiated agreement with Cuban leadership is “not high.”
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) suggested last week that leadership change in the country could be “close at hand.”
“I believe the liberation of the wonderful people of Cuba from the clutches of communism is close at hand,” Graham wrote in a post on social platform X.
This pressure comes as the Justice Department moved to indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro on murder charges on the country’s independence day last Wednesday.
Trump told reporters following Castro’s indictment that his administration has Cuba “on our mind.” The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its ships are stationed in the Caribbean, Southcom announced last week.
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