Cuba’s communist regime spent decades surviving American pressure.
Something different is building now, and the regime in Havana knows it.
And the US Army Reserve just quietly sent a message to commanders that every Cuban official needs to read very carefully.
What the Internal Army Message Actually Says
The US Army Reserve recently sent an internal request to subordinate commanders asking them to assess whether they could provide six types of military formations to US Southern Command within 90 to 120 days, according to an internal Army message reviewed by CBS News.
The document itself names no country.
But multiple US officials told CBS News, speaking under condition of anonymity because they lacked authorization to discuss the matter publicly, that the request ties directly to continued military planning focused on Cuba.
The Army Reserve had not responded to CBS News’ request for comment before publication. A US Southern Command spokesperson offered the standard operational security response: “Due to operational security concerns, we do not disclose details or comment on US operational movements or potential deployment timelines associated with current or future operations, contingencies, or planning.”
The spokesperson added that “US Southern Command continuously coordinates with the Joint Force to assess a range of potential requirements across its area of responsibility in support of assigned missions.”
The message does not specify how many troops the operation might require, where forces could deploy, or what mission they would execute. What it does do is ask commanders to start thinking concretely about availability — and that is not nothing.
Among the unit types requested are a combat sustainment support battalion, an engineer battalion, a medical brigade, a military police brigade, and an expeditionary sustainment command capable of overseeing logistics across an entire theater of operations. One of the requested medical elements is a forward resuscitative and surgical detachment, the kind of small trauma team designed to perform emergency surgery near a battlefield.
Those are not the units you assemble for a diplomatic photo opportunity.
How Long This Has Been Building
This latest document is not the beginning of the story. It is the most recent chapter in a pressure campaign that has been escalating steadily since President Trump returned to office.
CBS News reported in May that US intelligence officials were assessing how Cuba would respond to possible US military action, as the Trump administration accused Havana of strengthening ties with Russia, Communist China, and Iran.
In July, CBS News reported that American military planners had examined a range of options for possible action against the island, including an Army-led air assault involving thousands of US soldiers to be carried out by the 101st Airborne Division, the only unit trained for such a task. US officials who spoke to CBS News stressed in July that the briefings were not an indication that the president or the Pentagon had decided to move forward with an operation.
Earlier this year, American forces conducted reconnaissance operations on the seafloor and maritime approaches surrounding Cuba, according to multiple US military personnel who spoke to CBS News.
And Trump himself has not been subtle. Earlier this year, he told reporters in the Oval Office that he believed he would have “the honor of taking Cuba.” “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah,” he said. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it — I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.” Later that month, he said bluntly: “Cuba’s going to be next.”
At the United Nations General Assembly, Trump called Cuba “an absolutely failed state” and predicted its communist government “will fall.” The Cuban delegation walked out of the hall as he spoke. Trump also said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “deep into negotiations” with Havana and vowed that the United States would not allow a “haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep.” He declared: “Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba.”
Rubio has made no secret of where he stands. “Cuba is in a lot of trouble because, unfortunately for them, it’s run by a bunch of incompetent communists,” he said, according to WPLG-TV. “Being a communist is bad, being an incompetent communist is like the worst.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has vowed to counter any US attack and accused Washington of “aggression” and “economic warfare” by blocking oil imports to the island.
What This Pressure Campaign Looks Like on the Ground
The economic vise the Trump administration has applied to Cuba since January is not theoretical. Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism remained in place, bringing the full weight of associated financial restrictions. The administration imposed visa restrictions on Cuban and foreign officials involved in Cuba’s labor export program, tightened travel and remittance restrictions, and in January 2026, after the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration halted Cuban oil imports from Venezuela, which had been Cuba’s primary oil supplier since the early 2000s.
In a social media post in January 2026, President Trump declared there would be “NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA.”
The results have been severe. Cuba has experienced nationwide electrical grid blackouts. Inflation has exploded. Medicine and food shortages are widespread. The island’s communist rulers built their entire legitimacy on outlasting American pressure. That argument is getting harder to make with the lights off.
The 2026 intelligence community annual threat assessment portrayed Cuba primarily as an enabling environment for larger geopolitical competitors — Russia, Communist China, and Iran — rather than as an independent strategic threat on its own. That framing matters. It tells you how the administration views the stakes: Cuba is not just a Caribbean problem, it is a forward position for adversaries the Trump administration takes seriously.
Secretary of State Rubio has reportedly emphasized that the US prefers a diplomatic path leading to a transition government staffed by technocrats willing to make economic reforms. But the military planning that surrounds those diplomatic talks sends a clear message about what happens if diplomacy stalls.
And the media framing of this story deserves some scrutiny too. A document that does not name Cuba, combined with anonymous officials who say it is about Cuba, has produced wall-to-wall coverage treating military action as imminent. That is not exactly what the sourcing supports. US officials who spoke to CBS News were explicit that none of this planning constitutes a decision by President Trump or the Pentagon to execute an operation.
Planning is not orders. Readiness assessments are not deployments. Every serious military command on earth runs contingency plans for scenarios that never materialize. What the existence of this planning does tell you is that the Trump administration is not bluffing about Cuba the way previous administrations were content to bluff.
Sixty-plus years of communism have left Cuba with blackouts, shortages, and a population that has voted with its feet in massive numbers. The regime in Havana knows the economic pressure is real. It knows the military planning is real. And it knows that unlike previous American presidents who rattled sabers and retreated, Trump has a track record of doing what he says he intends to do.
The communist government of Cuba has accused Washington of “economic warfare” — and at least on the economic description, they are not wrong. The administration has been methodical, escalating step by step, using every lever available short of direct military action. The question is whether Rubio’s negotiations produce something before the 90-to-120-day window in that Army Reserve message becomes relevant.
“Cuba’s going to be next,” the president said. The US Army Reserve just asked its commanders to start thinking about what “next” might require.
Sources: CBS News, “U.S. military lays groundwork for potential action around Cuba”; WLRN, “President Trump lambastes Cuba as ‘failed state’ in UN Assembly speech”; CBS News, “Senior defense officials looking at Cuba military options” (July 2026); Congress.gov CRS Product IN12650, “U.S. Policy Toward Cuba: Recent Developments”; Daily Caller, “Pentagon Cuba Planning Expands As Army Reserve Surveys Troops For Possible Deployment”; Council on Foreign Relations, “Trump’s ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign on Cuba, Explained”