U.S. Navy
The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) of the United States Navy’s 7th Strike Fleet
The USA maintains one of the largest naval forces outside the Middle East in the Caribbean, positioning troops, warships and precision weapons for a possible military attack on Cuba, in an operation that threatens to become Donald Trump’s third international conflict.
The US Department of Defense spent months positioning the troops and weapons necessary for a possible military attack on Cuba, notes the . All that’s missing is Donald Trump’s final green light.
The North American president launched the hypothesis of an invasion of the island after economic and political pressures failed to overthrow the communist government. Still, the Navy’s reinforced presence in the region, the largest in the world outside the Middle East, would allow the US to act immediately.
These strategically positioned assets prepare the ground for military action, which could since the capture of the leadership of Havanasimilar to the arrest of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, a series of precision attacksand open the possibility of the US becoming involved in a third international conflict during the Trump administration.
Cuba “is in serious trouble”stated the Secretary of State Marco Rubiothis Wednesday, at a plenary meeting of the Cabinet. “To have a failed state 90 miles from our shores poses a threat to the national security of the United States.”
The fleet present in the region is slightly lower than in Januarywhen the US captured Maduro. However, the aircraft carrier battle group USS Nimitz entered the Caribbean in May, accompanied by several wrecks and guided missile cruisers capable of attacking targets on land.
A series of North American advanced drones and surveillance planes have also been flying over Cuba in recent months, and the amphibious assault ships USS Kearsarge and its escorts, with 2,500 marines, are off the coast of Virginia preparing a new deployment and could replace some of the ships returning home.
This reinforcement offers Various military optionseven though the Pentagon needs additional troops for a full-scale ground invasion.
The Nimitz arrived in the region on the same day that the former US president Raul Castroin an apparently calculated show of force.
“Nimitz is probably there mainly to intimidatealthough it can be used in a military operation if necessary”, says Mark Cancianformer Pentagon official and currently senior analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The ship, along with fighter planes based in Florida and Puerto Rico, would likely play a important role in any military action in Cuba, he added.
“Air strikes are possible to neutralize anti-aircraft defenses and enable wider air operations or, Maybe, eliminate the leadership with the intention of establishing a relationship similar to the one we have with Venezuela”, says Cancian. “Raúl Castro would be the first target“.
Amphibious assault ships USS Iwo Jima e USS Fort Lauderdale have also remained in the region since the summer, although the Marine Corps announced Wednesday that they will return to Norfolk next week.
