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.
