Gov. Ron DeSantis says the U.S. should be ready to send people into Cuba to help facilitate regime change if conditions allow. He also backs a potential indictment of Raul Castro tied to the downing of planes, while praising the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and c
In Miami, Gov.. Ron DeSantis laid out a more direct. intervention-ready vision for how the United States might respond to Cuba’s current government—one that he left intentionally vague. but that still landed with a clear message: if Cuba were ready for a shift. Americans should help from inside the country.
“What we want is if it got to the point where you could have change in Cuba, I’d like people in the U.S. to go and help with that,” DeSantis said.
He offered no specifics on what that help would look like.. That silence matters in a debate where the idea of “help” can range from simply removing an “objectionable leader” to a larger. operational effort that—while not named—was compared in the discussion to the kind of resource-heavy approach currently underway in Iran.
DeSantis also pointed to legal pressure. saying he supports a “potential indictment” of Raul Castro over the downing of planes late last century.. Castro is now 94 years old. a detail that raises immediate questions about the likely burden on American taxpayers—particularly if the legal process were to drag on for years and include end-of-life healthcare costs.
His remarks followed a broader tone from President Donald Trump, who has suggested movement is possible in Cuba.. Trump has described Cuba as being in “decline” and said it needs “help.” At the same time. the comparison being drawn in the discussion is that the Iran situation has proven resource-intensive. not seamless—unlike the relatively smooth transition thus far in Venezuela.. Trump has even floated Venezuela as a “51st state.”
There is also a diplomatic track running alongside the rhetoric. CIA head John Ratcliffe has told Cuban leadership that they still have a chance to voluntarily engage with the Trump administration.
DeSantis didn’t limit himself to regime-change talk. He returned to immigration and border security, opposing boats bringing refugees from the island, specifically citing “military age males showing up on our shores” along with contraband and firearms.
And he went further back in history to defend a failed attempt at toppling Cuba’s leadership: DeSantis praised the doomed Bay of Pigs invasion. saying the brigade was “right to try to stop” Fidel Castro’s then-new dictatorship.. In 1961. the brigade was defeated by Fidel Castro’s forces in two days. and the insurgency was backed by the CIA—an effort that ultimately failed to support the plan.
The pattern in DeSantis’s Cuba pitch is consistent: he pairs talk of U.S.. backing for a possible regime shift with support for a potential indictment tied to past violence. while also aligning his framing with Trump’s “help” language and contrasting that resource demands have played out differently in other scenarios mentioned. including Iran and Venezuela.
Ron DeSantis Cuba Raul Castro Bay of Pigs CIA John Ratcliffe Donald Trump regime change immigration Venezuela Iran 51st state