The indictment of Raul Castro by a supposedly independent Florida grand jury a couple of days ago has spurred speculation that the US is going to kidnap him the way it kidnapped President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. The arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group in the Caribbean on Wednesday has added fuel to that fire though Trump tried to play it down. He insisted to reporters there would not be a U.S. escalation against Cuba as “the place is falling apart,” but he said the country is “on our mind.”
The Nimitz is in the final stages of a cruise from Bremerton, Washington to its new home port in Norfolk, Virginia where it is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2027.