Washington lays out plan to topple Cuba's system

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Washington is determined to change Cuba’s communist system, a day after the United States filed criminal charges against former president Raul Castro that drew anger in Havana. At the same time, the US military said the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group had arrived in the Caribbean.

Asked whether the deployment was meant to intimidate Cuba, President Donald Trump replied: "No, not at all." Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has long opposed Havana’s government and has described the island, which lies 145 kilometres from the US coast, as a "failed state" amid a severe economic crisis that he said is mainly due to the US embargo.

Rubio says diplomacy remains preferred

Speaking to reporters in Miami, Rubio said: "Their economic system does not work. It is broken, and it cannot be fixed under the current political system." He added: "What they have been used to all these years is buying time and waiting for us to tire or get bored. This time they will not be able to exhaust us over time or buy time. We are very serious and very determined."

The US secretary of state stressed that Washington always prefers a diplomatic solution, while also saying Trump has other options available. Rubio said: "Cuba has always posed a threat to the national security of the United States," referring to Russian and Chinese weapons and intelligence on the island.

The Raul Castro indictment

Rubio also said Cuba had accepted an offer of $100 million in aid, but added that it was not clear whether Washington would agree to Havana’s conditions. "We will see what happens," he said.

The United States on Wednesday charged Raul Castro, the younger brother of Fidel Castro, who led the communist revolution in Cuba, over the shooting down of two civilian aircraft in 1996. Cuban authorities called on people to protest the "shameful" indictment, while the official newspaper Granma called for a rally outside the US embassy in Havana at noon on Friday local time.

Fabian Fernandez, a 30-year-old accountant, told Agence France-Presse in Havana: "This is not a real indictment in a matter that goes back more than 30 years, it is a public attack on a public figure," referring to the 94-year-old former president.

Warnings from Havana and abroad

In January, Trump relied on a US internal indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to send US forces to topple him and arrest him. Christopher Sabatini, a Latin America specialist at Chatham House, said the charge against Castro was intended to signal that what happened to Maduro could be repeated in Cuba.

Sabatini said that "the military will certainly defend Cuba" in the event of a US military intervention, "but will the people do that too? It is hard to say." After Maduro was toppled, the United States blocked oil supplies to Cuba, depriving Havana of a key source as Caracas had been meeting about half of its needs.

Cuba is facing power cuts of up to 20 hours a day, along with interruptions to water supply. Hyperinflation has driven up the prices of basic goods sharply, while rubbish has piled up in the streets of Havana.

Pedro Leal, a 65-year-old retiree, accused Washington of harming Cuban citizens. "What the US government is doing here now, together with the energy embargo that prevents us from bringing in fuel, is frankly criminal," he said.

China, Russia and the EU

In addition to the murder charge, Castro was also charged with conspiring to kill Americans and destroy aircraft. The Cuban government said the 1996 shootdown was "legitimate self-defence" in response to a violation of its airspace.

Two civilian planes flown by opponents of the Cuban leader were shot down at the time, killing four people, according to the US indictment. Raul Castro was defence minister then.

China and Russia criticised Trump’s steps toward Cuba, as the US president seeks to end a war he started with Israel against Iran. China said it "strongly supports Cuba" and called on Washington to de-escalate.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a news conference: "The US side should stop brandishing the sanctions stick and the judicial stick against Cuba, and stop threatening to use force on every occasion."

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "We believe that under no circumstances should similar methods, which verge on violence, be used against former or current heads of state."

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for an end to the Cuban people’s "isolation". Speaking in Mexico City, she said: "After decades of mismanagement and political repression... the economic crisis in Cuba has effectively brought the country to the brink of collapse," adding that "the Cuban people deserve opportunities and freedom, not more restrictions and isolation."

"Which verge on violence".. Russia comments on the US indictment of Castro