Washington – The intelligence community in the US has been looking at how Cuba would react to an American war, CBS News said.
Earlier this month, as the US intelligence community tracked the Universal, a Russian-flagged oil tanker bound for Cuba, Pentagon analysts and the Defense Intelligence Agency, the US military’s intelligence agency, began analyzing what Cuba’s response would be to an American attack on the Caribbean country. Work on developing President Trump’s military options has begun, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. Both asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
These types of intelligence forecasts not only attempt to show the immediate consequences of American action, but the chain of reactions that may follow. US military planners often include such analyzes in developing options for the president to consider.
When he was asked on Wednesday by reporters if there will be more in Cuba after the US the impeachment of former Cuban leader Raúl CastroMr. Trump replied, “No, there will be no escalation. I don’t think there should be.”
The assessment of blowback from the American intelligence community is unclear, but it continues and comes as tensions between Havana and Washington rise. This year, the Trump administration he issued additional sanctionsdirected Cuban military and intelligence officials and increased efforts to suffocation Cuban fuel and shipping access.
CBS News has confirmed that Cuba has received the attack drones – it is not clear who provided the drones or how they were obtained. On Sunday, Axios, which first reported on the news of Cuban aviation, said that Havana has received more than 300 military aircraft and discussed plans to use them to attack the US military installation in Guantanamo Bay in the event of a war with the US. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel denied that Havana posed a military threat to the US, but warned that a US attack would cause “bloodshed.”
Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe he left he traveled to Cuba and met with intelligence officials and Raúl Guillermo “Raulito” Rodríguez Castro, grandson of former leader Raúl Castro. The CIA official said Ratcliffe told Cuban officials that the Trump administration offered a “real opportunity for cooperation” and a chance to stabilize Cuba’s struggling economy, while warning that this opportunity depended on Cuba severing its ties with America’s adversaries Russia, China and Iran. Ratcliffe also said that this request will not remain open forever.
In a statement issued earlier this year, Mr. Trump said that Cuba has the largest listening position in Russia overseas. The Biden administration also accused China of opening spy centers on the communist island 90 kilometers from the US coast.
A US official told CBS News that Ratcliffe’s meeting will test whether those under the Cuban regime who see the country as needing a new approach can defeat hard-liners who believe their ability to resist US pressure for 67 years means they will be able to outrun Mr.
Ratcliffe’s visit follows a series of secret meetings between Cuban officials and senior State Department officials.
In April, the team traveled to Havana again it floated giving Cuba access to Starlink, the satellite Internet service operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Recently, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, reiterated the US proposal for $100 million in humanitarian aid, which will be sent to Cuba through humanitarian organizations that he previously said were stopped by Cuban government officials. A senior official of the Department of State said on Tuesday that the affairs of Cuba, Michael Hammer, met in recent days with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba to deliver the terms of the American proposal, which includes food, medical supplies, solar lamps and other basic goods that should be distributed throughout the island.
Rubio on Wednesday released a Spanish-language video aimed at Cubans blaming the island’s government for widespread fuel and food shortages across the country. He singled out GAESA, a business organization run by the Cuban military that controls a large part of the economy, as a major obstacle to cooperation with the US.
On Friday, CBS News first report that the US was taking steps to impeach Raúl Castro, the 94-year-old former president, in connection with the downing of two planes 30 years ago. On Wednesday, federal prosecutors in Florida which is not closed an indictment charging Castro and five others with Cuban military action.
Meanwhile, Universal has been cruising for weeks in the Atlantic Ocean and more than 1,000 miles from Cuba. In the past, many ships bound for Cuba have diverted amid concerns that they could be intercepted by the US Navy. The United States allowed crude oil carried by the Russian vessel Anatoly Kolodkin to go reach out Cuba also provided aid to the island back in March. Earlier this week, the US allowed aid ships from Uruguay and Mexico to deliver supplies.
With global energy markets reeling amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, Washington approved a 30-day waiver allowing countries to continue receiving Russian oil and gasoline shipments that are already in tanks and on the way.
