U.S. military option for Cuba fades as Trump focuses on sanctions

Cuban leader Raul Castro attends the gala marking the 100th anniversary of his brother Fidel Castro's birth at the Karl Marx theater in Havana on Thursday. | AFP-JIJI

Aug 16, 2026

The White House’s Cuba strategy is increasingly focused on ramping up sanctions and economic pressure rather than deploying military force to break the island’s communist leadership, people familiar with the matter said.

U.S. attention is now centered on cutting off all revenue sources for the regime rather than any military or special forces operation similar to the January raid that seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to detail the administration’s thinking.

The strategy is aimed at creating fractures in the ranks and room for negotiation in a government that’s rejected U.S. calls for change after almost seven decades of one-party rule, the people said.

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