The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships entered the Caribbean Sea Wednesday as part of an apparent effort by the Trump administration to apply pressure on Cuba from all directions.
“Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group!” US Southern Command posted on X.
The strike group includes the Nimitz aircraft carrier, its air wing – F/A-18 Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers, E-2D Hawkeyes, C-2A Greyhounds and MH-60R/S Sea Hawks – the USS Gridley destroyer and the USNS Patuxent replenishment oiler.
US Southern Command touted the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group as “the epitome of readiness and presence, unmatched reach and lethality, and strategic advantage.”
“USS Nimitz has proven its combat prowess across the globe, ensuring stability and defending democracy from the Taiwan Strait to the Arabian Gulf,” US Southern Command added.
The arrival of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group comes on the same day the Justice Department unsealed a criminal indictment against former Cuban President Raul Castro, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a Spanish-language message to the Cuban people, offering them a “new relationship” with the US.
The strike group’s arrival also comes a week after CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to the communist island to meet with top Cuban officials.
The Trump administration plans to keep the carrier strike group in the region for at least a few days as “a show of force” and not for major military operations, a US official told the New York Times.
The USS Iwo Jima amphibious assault ship, the USS Fort Lauderdale amphibious transport ship, the USS Lake Erie guided-missile cruiser and the USS Billings littoral combat ship have also been operating in the Caribbean Sea in recent days, according to the US Naval Institute’s fleet tracker.
Cuba is “on our mind,” President Trump told reporters Wednesday after Castro was hit with murder and other charges stemming from the deadly 1996 shootdowns of two civilian planes over international waters.
“It’s very important,” Trump said of the indictment. “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 president insisted that there will not be “escalation” in Cuba.
“I don’t think there needs to be,” Trump said. “Look the place is falling apart, it’s a mess.”
