WASHINGTON — The United States Army reported this Wednesday that its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group have been deployed to the Caribbean, an announcement that coincides with a tightening of the Donald Trump Administration’s pressure campaign on the communist regime of Cuba.
The announcement comes at a time when the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) presented this Wednesday a criminal accusation against Raúl Castro for the death of four airmen of the Brothers to the Rescue organization 30 years ago, which increases pressure against the Havana regime.
“Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Aircraft Carrier Strike Group!” wrote in X the US Southern Command, in charge of operations in Latin America, with the exception of Mexico.
Next, the North American command claimed as “the paradigm of preparation and presence, of unparalleled range and lethality, and of strategic advantage” the aforementioned aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the naval aviation unit Embarked Air Wing, the destroyer USS Gridley and the logistical supply ship USNS Patuxent, which constitute the maximum expression of readiness.
Coincidences?
The advertisement coincides with the hardening of messages from Washington to Havana —with whose representatives he has been negotiating for months as a result of the oil blockade imposed by the United States— and the formal accusation, presented on Wednesday, May 20, by the Department of Justice against former Cuban dictator Raúl Castro for the death of four airmen in 1996.
At the end of last year, Washington already sent another aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean, where it ended up supporting the operation to capture the former ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, last January, before heading to the Middle East, where it participated in the current campaign against Iran.
Pillage
This announcement is framed in the midst of a tightening of the exchange of statements between Washington and Havana to the point that this very Wednesday, shortly after the United States has imposed new sanctions against the Government of the island, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has proposed to the Cuban people to establish a “new relationship” directly, without the tutelage of the island authorities, whom he accuses of “looting billions of dollars”, through companies such as the Group of Business Administration SA (GAESA), a conglomerate created by Raúl Castro and owned by the Cuban Armed Forces.
“While you suffer, these businessmen have 18 billion dollars in assets and control 70% of Cuba’s economy (…) Everything passes through their hands,” Rubio said hours before in a video message in Spanish published on social networks, adding that, in his opinion, “the real reason why they do not have electricity, fuel or food (on the island) is because those who control their country have looted billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people.”
Added to this is the indictment, also this Wednesday, by the United States Department of Justice, against Raúl Castro for the downing in 1996 of two civilian planes in international waters belonging to the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue, an incident in which three Americans and a resident of the North American country lost their lives.
The aircraft carrier tour
For its part, in mid-2025 the Nimitz already supported Operation Midnight Hammer for four months, through which the US and Israel bombed key facilities of the Iranian nuclear program last year.
He also later participated in attack operations against Islamic State positions around Somali waters.
After returning to port in December on the west coast of the United States, the ship headed south with the original objective of crossing the Strait of Magellan in order to later reach its home port in Norfolk, on the east coast of the United States.
Along the way, the Nimitz and its attack group carried out exercises with the Naval Forces of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
