\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON — <\/span>President Donald Trump and America’s top diplomat on Thursday again raised the specter of U.S. military intervention in Cuba, a renewed threat that takes on greater weight a day after the administration announced criminal charges<\/a> against the island’s former leader, Ra\u00fal Castro.<\/p>\n Trump said previous U.S. presidents have considered intervening in Cuba<\/a> for decades but that \u201cit looks like I\u2019ll be the one that does it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOther presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something,\u201d Trump told reporters when asked about Cuba during an environmental event in the Oval Office. \u201cAnd, it looks like I\u2019ll be the one that does it. So, I would be happy to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters separately that Cuba has been a national security threat for years because of its ties to U.S. adversaries and that Trump is intent on addressing it. <\/p>\n Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hard-line against Cuba\u2019s socialist leadership, said the Trump administration wants to resolve differences with Cuba peacefully<\/a> but is doubtful the U.S. can reach a diplomatic resolution with the island’s current government.<\/p>\n Trump’s \u201cpreference is always a negotiated agreement that\u2019s peaceful. That\u2019s always our preference. That remains our preference with Cuba,\u201d Rubio said in Miami before boarding a plane to attend a NATO meeting in Sweden and then visit India.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just being honest with you, you know, the likelihood of that happening, given who we\u2019re dealing with right now, is not high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Top Trump aides \u2014 including Rubio, CIA chief John Ratcliffe<\/a> and other senior national security officials \u2014 have met with Cuban officials in recent months to explore possible improvements in relations. But the U.S. side has come away unimpressed from those talks, leading to even more sanctions imposed on the Cuban government in the past week. <\/p>\n Over the years, Cuba has gotten used to \u201cbuying time and waiting us out,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cThey\u2019re not going to be able to wait us out or buy time. We\u2019re very serious, we\u2019re very focused.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked whether the U.S. would use force in Cuba to change the island’s political system, Rubio repeated that a diplomatic settlement was preferred but noted that \u201cthe president always has the option to do whatever it takes to support and protect the national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n He pushed back on a reporter\u2019s suggestion that it sounded like \u201cnation-building,\u201d insisting it was about addressing a national security risk.<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled an indictment<\/a> that accuses Castro of ordering the shootdown in 1996 of civilian planes<\/a> flown by Miami-based exiles. The charges, which were secretly filed by a grand jury in April, included murder and destruction of an airplane.<\/p>\n Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel has condemned the indictment as a political stunt that sought only to \u201cjustify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n The Castro indictment has led many to believe that the Trump administration is following the same playbook it did when it captured then-Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> in a military operation in early January. Maduro, who has been imprisoned in the U.S. since his seizure, faces federal drug trafficking charges<\/a> and has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n The U.S. military touted the arrival<\/a> of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and accompanying ships to the Caribbean Sea on the same day the charges against Castro were announced. U.S. Southern Command said the ships are taking part in maritime exercises with partners in Latin America that began in March.<\/p>\n Rubio would not discuss how the U.S. might move to implement the indictment against Castro, who turns 95 next month.<\/p>\n Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since ousting Maduro and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages<\/a> and an economic collapse across the island.<\/p>\n The Trump administration this month also has slapped new sanctions on Cuba, the largest of which is against Grupo de Administraci\u00f3n Empresarial S.A., a business conglomerate operated by the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Rubio announced that the sister of the GAESA’s executive president, who was living in the U.S., has had her green card revoked and been arrested, and is now in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. <\/p>\n \u201cPast Administrations have permitted the families of Cuban military elites, Iranian terrorists and other reprehensible organizations to enjoy lavish lifestyles in our country funded by stolen blood-money, while the people they repress at home suffer in increasingly dire circumstances. No longer,\u201d Rubio said in a statement.<\/p>\n