Trump Admin Reportedly Believes Cuban Regime Could Collapse As Soon As This Summer

The Trump administration believes the Cuban regime could collapse as early as this summer and is drafting military response plans in case that scenario leads to internal chaos, according to a new report.

Axios detailed that the U.S. government seeks to continue putting pressure on Havana to cause its failure, rather than resorting to military action. “The best way to describe it is ‘accelerationism,’ ” a senior official told the outlet.

“But we don’t want to kill off the regime just yet. There’s a method to this. It’s in stages,” the official added. Another one said “we have a pretty deep toolbox, especially when it comes to sanctions and enforcing them” and anticipated that “more is on the way.”

President Donald Trump said earlier this month that there won’t be additional escalation in Cuba because he doesn’t think “there needs to be.”

The administration has also been ramping up pressure on the Havana regime by indicting former leader Raul Castro over the downing of two civilian aircraft in the 1990s.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected the development, calling the measure a “political action.”

In a social media publication, Diaz-Canel said the accusation “reveals the arrogance and frustration felt by the representatives of the empire in the face of the unshakable resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.”

“This is a political action with no legal basis whatsoever, aimed solely at adding to the fabricated case file they are building to justify the recklessness of a military aggression against Cuba,” he added.

In the economic realm, the Trump administration also unveiled a set of sanctions against the regime recently, this time targeting its military-industrial complex, its leader and a natural resources company ran by the state.

“These sanctions are part of the Trump Administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime and hold accountable the regime and those who provide it material or financial support,” Rubio said in the announcement.

Concretely, the sanctions target Cuba’s Grupo de Administracion Empresarial, or GAESA, which controls most of the country’s economy and Rubio described as the “heart of Cuba’s kleptocratic communist system.” Ania Guillermina Lastres Morena, a senior member of the company’s board of directors, has also been sanctioned.