Yankee Imperialism Threatens Cuba

Featured image: The USS Nimitz sails along the Pacific Ocean on April 23, 2026. Source: U.S. Southern Command.

Yankee imperialism increased military and judicial pressure against Cuba this week, mobilizing troops in the Caribbean from Puerto Rico and indicting Raúl Castro and five Cuban military officers for the downing of two aircraft belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue organization in 1996, as A Nova Democracia (AND) reported.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group, including the USS Gridley and USS Patuxent, as well as Carrier Air Wing 17, entered the Caribbean earlier this past week, US Southern Command confirmed in social media posts. Its arrival marks the first time a carrier has been in the area since February.

Military pressure also includes continuous aerial surveillance. The Wall Street Journal revealed on May 23 that US military aircraft had conducted more than 150 hours of reconnaissance flights around Cuba since February. According to the newspaper, the missions involved drones and manned aircraft, including P-8A Poseidon, RC-135V/W Rivet Joint, and MQ-4C Triton, in some cases as close as 30 miles off the Cuban coast.

The Nimitz’s arrival also coincides with the Justice Department’s indictment of several Cuban officials this week, including former Cuban President Raul Castro. Additionally Yankee imperialism continues imposing sanctions on Cuba. On May 18, the State Department imposed a new layer of sanctions on several Cuban government agencies, including the Interior Ministry and National Police and Intelligence Directorate.

Washington judiciary announced criminal charges against Raúl Castro, 94, who was Minister of Defense when MiG jets of the Cuban Revolutionary Air Force intercepted Brothers to the Rescue aircraft thirty years ago. Federal prosecutors accuse Castro and five Cuban military officers of murder, destruction of aircraft, and conspiracy to murder US citizens.

AND explains the similarity between the Venezuelan and the Cuban case: “The strategy resembles the political-military stratagem used by Yankee imperialism in early January, when the Washington government captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a direct military operation on federal drug trafficking charges, keeping him imprisoned indefinitely. The sequence is similar to the model applied against Venezuela: criminal charges, military pressure, and the use of Yankee courts as an instrument of political coercion.”