Posted on 05/20/2026 8:11:19 PM PDT by thegagline
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group have arrived in the Caribbean this week as tensions with Cuba escalate and President Trump has raised the prospect of potential military action against the island, according to initial reporting by The Hill.
The Nimitz-class carrier is operating alongside its air wing — including F/A-18E Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and C-2A Greyhounds — as well as the USS Gridley, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and the USNS Patuxent, a Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler, according to U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the region.
“USS Nimitz has proven its combat prowess across the globe, ensuring stability and defending democracy from the Taiwan Strait to the Arabian Gulf,” Southcom said on X.
The Nimitz, commissioned in 1975, had been conducting joint exercises with the Brazilian Navy off Rio de Janeiro last week, the U.S. Embassy in Brazil said.
Trump told reporters Wednesday that Cuba is “on our mind,” following a Justice Department indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro on murder-related charges tied to the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft over international waters that killed four people.
“It’s very important,” Trump said. “It was a very big moment for people, not only Cuban Americans, but people who came from Cuba, that want to go back to Cuba, see their family in Cuba.”
The indictment was announced on Cuba’s Independence Day. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a rare Spanish-language message to Cubans, marked the occasion by defending U.S. sanctions and blaming the island’s ongoing power outages on the communist government.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe also met with Cuban officials on the island last week, signaling that Washington’s timeline for talks would not remain open-ended, according to officials familiar with the meeting.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
2) We are offering Cuba $100 million in direct humanitarian aid.
3) As an aside, if you get a chance, visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. Among other things, there is the Nimitz Gallery. He was an extraordinary man who was born in Fredericksburg Texas.
> We are offering Cuba $100 million in direct humanitarian aid. <
And that will just be the start. The United States is a debtor nation. So that will be borrowed money that my grandchildren will struggle to repay.
Sure, Cuba’s communist government is odious. But they are no threat to us. I suppose there are good reasons we should spend money there anyway.
After all, we do it everywhere else, and for weaker reasons.
I have never been to Cuba, but I am happy Cuba has remained independent for as long as they have.
is it an a amazing place to hopefully plunder? Oh hell YES.
Just what we need. Another Uncle Sugar payout my great granchildren will be burdened with long after the current players are dead and buried.
“Cuba has remained independent”...???? You mean an independent island prison?
If the US doesn’t annex Cuba, the Ruskies and Chinamen will.
Same with Greenland….
We do not need commies from the eastern hemisphere staking out claims in the western hemisphere.
Cuba has not been independent since the communist Fidel Castro took over in 1959. Since then, the people can’t even leave the island without government permission, they can’t make a decent living, they don’t have enough to eat because they have to buy from govt grocery stores with empty shelves, etc. Before that, they had a non-communist dictator, but at least they could make a decent living, own businesses and come and go as they pleased. Have you ever read about the Cuban missile crisis?
One of my cousins in Florida is married to a Cuban whose parents escaped, bringing him to Miami as a child in the early 1960’s. They were lucky to get out alive-a lot of people still don’t...
Aye.
Monroe Doctrine is still in effect.
And recently enforced in Venezuela!
M ake
A mericaS
G reat
A gain
Another DJT 4-D chess move!
Cuba must be freed and made into a US dependency! We should have seized the island when the Soviet Union Fell. Unlike Iran, they have few cards to play and they are too far from Russia and China to get much help. All we need is a reason and we can sweep in and take the place—Next question: What do we do with it?
Reason?
Cigars!
Only 90 miles away.
Reason #2?
Vintage cars, cheap, ready for restoration.
Yup.
Vintage cars as well maintained as possible under their horrible circumstances.
If Raul is still competent, he should walk into the Soviet, oops, Russian Embassy and ask for asylum.
Puerto Rico 2.0.
| ... if you get a chance, visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. Among other things, there is the Nimitz Gallery. He was an extraordinary man who was born in Fredericksburg Texas. * * * Timely comment, gagline!... Only a week ago, I was browsing Youtube and came across a terrific vid called Chester W. Nimitz's Top 3 Legendary Tactical Moves. The 18 minute video explains in beautiful detail the strategic genius of Admiral Nimitz in winning the Pacific War. |  |
Cigars killed Rush Limbaugh...
Please Lord, we don't need another Puerto Rico.
“Monroe Doctrine is still in effect”
.
Now called the “Donroe Doctrine”...
;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.