Trump denies escalation against Cuba after Raul Castro indictment

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that there "won't be escalation" against Cuba, after US federal prosecutors indicted Cuban Revolution leader Raul Castro and a US aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean.

"There won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be," Trump told reporters. He also reiterated what he said before that the United States is "freeing up Cuba."

Trump's remarks also came after the US Southern Command announced that the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, which includes the aircraft carrier, its carrier air wing, and at least one guided-missile destroyer, has arrived in the Caribbean.

"The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), the embarked Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17), USS Gridley (DDG 101) and USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201) are the epitome of readiness and presence, unmatched reach and lethality, and strategic advantage," the command said in a post on X Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, a grand jury from the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida indicted Raul Castro for his alleged role in ordering the striking down of two planes operated by a Cuban exile group in the United States named "Brothers to the Rescue" in 1996. Castro, born in June 1931, served as Cuba's minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces at the time of the incident.

Analysts here in the United States view the indictment as potentially laying the groundwork for a US military intervention in Cuba, pointing to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who had already been indicted before US forces raided Caracas and brought him to New York by force to stand trial.

The Trump administration has intensified sanctions on Cuba following the Jan. 3 capture of Maduro, restricting the island's access to imported fuel as Cuba grapples with a worsening humanitarian and energy crisis marked by severe fuel shortages and prolonged nationwide blackouts.

Also, Trump has hinted recently that the next target of the US military operations would be Cuba after the Iran war is over.

Responding to the US indictment against Raul Castro, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Wednesday that the US charges are just a "political maneuver" with "no legal basis whatsoever."

Any US military attack on Cuba would cause "a bloodbath with incalculable consequences" and a devastating impact on peace and stability in Latin America and the Caribbean, he warned Monday.