Mixed signals bring questions on US military force in Cuba

Added: 2026-05-27

[00:00:00]This feels like a defining moment for many Cuban exiles who have waited generations for change.

[00:00:04]>> And Local 10's Christina Vazquez picks up our team coverage now live from Miami with this part of our story. Christina.

[00:00:12]At this hour, so many here in Miami are seeking clarity from the White House.

[00:00:17]It is a fact that Raul Castro right now is a fugitive from US justice. For Cuban democracy advocates, in the wake of Raul Castro's indictment, a renewed hope that political change is possible in Cuba. We're the closest we've ever been to freedom.

[00:00:31]>> There will not be a transition as long as this regime is in power. But a key question remains. Can there actually be political change in Cuba without US military intervention?

[00:00:43]My opinion is no.

[00:00:46]Why? Because the regime is not going to give up. Sebastian Arcos, interim director of FIU's Cuban Research Institute, says it's hard to know exactly what the US plans to do next, in part because of the US president's vacillating remarks. Take for example the past 48 hours. This is President Trump today. Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years doing something and uh it looks like I'll be the one that does it.

[00:01:12]>> But yesterday, as top US officials announced charges against Raul Castro, while a US aircraft carrier and its strike group of fighter jets and radar jamming equipment enters the Caribbean, he said, >> There won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be. It's confusing because he's saying one thing one day and a different thing the next day.

[00:01:31]Either the United States is going to take over Cuba, meaning he's going to do something militarily, or he's not. He cannot be both at the same time. This, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggests, the US is running out of patience with Cuban leadership. Right now, there just doesn't seem to be people over there in charge of the regime who aren't in any way open to any of those changes. The Cubans don't want a repetition of Venezuela, which is stuck halfway between one regime and democracy.

[00:02:03]Which is why he says in view his view, if the goal here is to transition the island to democracy, he says those political changes have to happen before the economic ones. Reporting live for you, I'm Christina Vazquez, Local 10 News.