Cubans attends a rally in Havana, Jan. 3, 2026, in solidarity with Venezuela after the U.S. captured President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela.
Ramon Espinosa/AP
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Ramon Espinosa/AP
PLAYA GIRON, Cuba —Within the small city of Playa Girón, historical past looms massive. There is not a lot right here. The water is turquoise. The houses are low-slung. However in 1961, on the mouth of the Bay of Pigs, this was the location of a failed, U.S.-backed invasion aimed toward toppling a younger Fidel Castro.
Contained in the Girón Museum, director Dulce María Limonta del Pozo gestures towards tanks and artillery utilized by Cuban forces to repel the assault.
“The plan,” she says, “was to establish a beachhead and form a transitional government.”
Together with his assault on Venezuela, President Trump has introduced an nearly 200-year-old political thought again into the highlight. The Monroe Doctrine is the idea that the Western Hemisphere falls inside the USA’ unique sphere of affect.
“It showed the people we should not fear an empire”
Few nations perceive the implications of that doctrine extra intimately than Cuba. And after Washington’s dramatic intervention in Venezuela, the island is as soon as once more within the U.S. crosshairs.
To Limonta del Pozo, the tried invasion in Cuba in 1961 marks a pivotal second for the Monroe Doctrine as a result of the invasion failed spectacularly. Whereas historians would possibly argue over the main points, Cuba payments it as the primary time the USA was defeated militarily within the Americas.
“It showed the people that we should not fear an empire,” Limonta del Pozo says.
Fidel Castro factors out broken cottages at Playa Giron on June 16, 1961.
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AP Picture/BS/AP
That lesson nonetheless shapes how Cuba views Washington.
The Cuban authorities, led by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, sees American expansionism as embedded in U.S. historical past – starting shortly after independence with the Louisiana Buy in 1803, when the USA started systematically pushing European powers out of the hemisphere.
“Expansionism is in their veins. We are talking about historical ideas and strategies designed more than 200 years ago,” says Alejandro García del Toro, who handles bilateral relations with the U.S. authorities. “So, you cannot be surprised.”
Trump revives Monroe Doctrine
President Trump has overtly revived these ambitions. Chatting with reporters aboard Air Power One on Sunday, en path to Washington, D.C., Trump predicted that Cuba’s communist authorities might quickly collapse.
“Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall,” he stated, noting the island’s reliance on Venezuela’s sponsored oil. However he dismissed the concept U.S. troops would intervene immediately. “I don’t think we need any action. It looks like it’s going down.”
It is a sentiment continuously echoed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The son of Cuban immigrants and a long-time Cuba hawk, Rubio supplied a warning for Havana over the weekend.
“If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned — at least a little bit,” he stated.
Venezuela and Cuba have lengthy been shut allies: Venezuela has provided Cuba with sponsored oil for many years, and in return Cuba has supplied medical employees and safety personnel.
Throughout the U.S. operation to seize Maduro, the Cuban authorities stated 32 of its nationals — members of its armed forces and intelligence businesses — had been killed whereas defending Maduro and his spouse, prompting two days of nationwide mourning on the island.
Raul Rodríguez, a researcher on the Heart for Hemispheric and U.S. Research, factors to Trump’s previous calls to retake management of the Panama Canal and to annex Greenland — each long-standing U.S. strategic pursuits.
“It’s a kind of imperial nostalgia,” Rodríguez says.
From that perspective, the Caribbean was the following frontier as soon as the U.S. expanded west to California. And whereas eradicating Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro might align with U.S. targets, Rodríguez argues the deeper goal may very well be Cuba — a rustic that has resisted American intervention since 1959.
“They’ve tried everything with Cuba,” he says.
The hope in Washington now, Rodríguez believes, is that Venezuela’s collapse will reduce off a budget oil Cuba has relied on for many years, deepening an already extreme financial disaster and triggering unrest that would topple the federal government.
“For Mr. Rubio,” Rodriguez says, “it would be his coronation and I would argue that this is his ultimate goal.”
A vacationer watches at Playa Giron Museum a British-made Hawker Sea Fury airplane that noticed motion within the Bay of Pigs fight, at Bay of Pigs, Matanzas province,
Izzet Keribar/Getty photos
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Izzet Keribar/Getty photos
“Right now, we are fighting for our lives”
On the streets of Playa Girón, these pressures are already being felt. Fabiana Hernández Ortega waits for a truck delivering milk — a primary staple that has turn into more and more scarce. Her father was detained by invading forces throughout the Bay of Pigs. She was solely a 12 months outdated when the invasion occurred, however she grew up realizing individuals who fought.
“As Cuban citizens, we feel that moment as a victory,” Hernández says. However at present, she says, they’re dealing with a special battle.
Due to U.S. sanctions and financial mismanagement, the federal government is usually compelled to decide on between retaining the lights on and importing meals or medication.
Hernández says she will be able to not reliably discover the medication she wants. The sponsored milk, flour and sugar as soon as supplied by the federal government have grown scarce.
“Right now, we are fighting for our lives,” Hernández says. “We live day to day.”
Nonetheless, she shrugs — a gesture widespread throughout the island. “These are the cards we were dealt, so, we keep going. What else can we do?” As she speaks, the milk truck lastly arrives and for a second, a minimum of, there may be reduction.
