Not many weeks ago, the mainstream press was warning that President Trump was planning to invade Cuba. Trump has a sophisticated strategy in which he combines relentless economic pressure with a targeted humanitarian assistance, along with a direct appeal to the Cuban people. Trump and Sec. of State Marco Rubio are playing a high-stakes game, writes Felix Fleitz, but a game worth taking, he promises.
#1 Maximum Economic Pressure
By starving it of energy, the administration has strangled Cuba’s economy. When the U.S. helped topple Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, it also severed the subsidized oil lifeline that kept Cuba reading during the night. Trump’s January executive order declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs on any country shipping oil to Cuba.
The outcome was the logical results of decades of Cuba’s mismanagement finally encountering an American president who refuses to subsidize it. The regime’s military conglomerate, GAESA—founded by Raúl Castro and controlling the lion’s share of the economy—has hoarded billions, writes Felix Fietz in American Greatness, while ordinary Cubans suffer. Trump’s Cuba policy stops America from papering over this corruption.
#2 Moral Clarity
On May 20, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment charging Raúl Castro and several regime officials with murder and conspiracy for the 1996 shoot down of two Brothers to the Rescue humanitarian planes over international waters, killing four, including three Americans.
The timing of this indictment—Cuban Independence Day—was no accident, writes Felix F. It was a blunt reminder to the world—and to the Cuban people—that this is a violent rogue state run by the same thugs who have ruled it for 65 years. It also makes clear that the Cuban regime has no legitimacy.
#3 The Carrot on the Stick Trick
The Trump administration has offered $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance—food, medicine, and oil — but only if the Cuban government allows it to be distributed through trusted, independent intermediaries such as the Catholic Church and reputable NGOs, not through the corrupt regime or its entities.
In a powerful Spanish-language video message released on Independence Day, Marco Rubio spoke directly to the Cuban people.
He laid out the truth: the hardships they are enduring are not caused by an American “blockade” but by a corrupt system that prioritizes regime insiders over the population. He offered a new relationship with the United States—one that could ease their burdens and let Cubans thrive at home rather than risk their lives fleeing in rafts or illegally crossing borders.
Success is not guaranteed. Through brutal repression and the loyalty of its security forces, Mr. Fleitz notes, the Cuban regime has survived much worse.
Trump and Rubio are betting that sustained, targeted pressure against a criminal communist government, paired with a credible off-ramp and direct outreach to the Cuban people, can finally break a system that has failed its citizens for more than six decades.
Trump’s plan is a long overdue strategic, humane policy., writes Felix Fleitz. “For the sake of the Cuban people and American interests in the Western Hemisphere, this gamble deserves a chance to succeed.”
