It is never a wise idea to make predictions about the opinions of future historians. As an example, I can recall distinctly hearing someone with a few academic letters after their name proclaim that “Obama will be remembered as one of the greatest presidents ever!” Mind you, this was announced only months into his first term in 2009.
From the vantage point of 17 years, that summation sounds foolish, especially given how thoroughly Trumpism has eviscerated Obama’s anemic legacy.
However, despite the foolhardy nature of making predictions, I do believe that Operation Absolute Resolve will be remembered by future chroniclers as one of the great turning points of the 21st century. In a matter of two hours, special operators from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, CIA, DEA, and FBI captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and flew them back to the U.S. to face multiple charges related to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. Operation Absolute Resolve is unquestionably the crown jewel of the Donroe Doctrine. An update on President James Monroe’s (1817-1825) titular doctrine, which promised American support for the new republics in the Western Hemisphere in the face of European colonial revanchism, the Donroe Doctrine promises to project American power forward in the Caribbean and Latin America, with the explicit aim being the destruction of that region’s many powerful narco-terrorism cartels.
President Trump’s aggressive policies in the Western Hemisphere, along with his current gunboat diplomacy in the Middle East, have put America’s enemies on notice. And these enemies are paying attention, chief among them the communist island of Cuba.
On Friday, June 19, the Cuban government passed into law 176 new economic measures designed to break the Cuban Communist Party’s monopoly on all economic activity. These free-market reforms include easing government regulations of imports and exports, authorizing private banking and investments (including investments abroad), and allowing private companies on the island greater autonomy in hiring.
The immediate rationale for these sweeping changes is the country’s current economic crisis. Rising inflation, deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages, and near-nightly blackouts have become the norm for everyday Cubans. However, besides economic necessity, Cuba’s drastic pivot towards the free market is the result of the Donroe Doctrine and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s assertive maneuvers in the name of Cuban liberation. It is likely that the Cuban Communist Party believes that their free-market overtures may save them from complete annihilation, and yet new sanctions (including a fuel blockade) signal that Washington will not be easily mollified. In a similar vein, the April 2026 indictments against former President Raúl Castro for his part in the 1996 shootdown of two unarmed Brothers of Rescue aircraft that resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens indicate that President Trump’s administration is prepared to treat Castro just like Maduro.
Frankly, America needs to act and act now.
Cuba has been a thorn in America’s side for decades, and despite its perennially weak economy and limited population, the island nation has exerted an outsized (and completely malign) influence on world affairs since the 1960s. As detailed in Benjamin Braddock’s outstanding essay for The American Mind, Havanna has long been the primary hub for leftist activism and infiltration in the Western Hemisphere. Under the regime of Fidel Castro, Cuba not only attempted to house Soviet nuclear missiles on their soil, but Havana also sent hundreds of thousands of troops to Cold War-era Africa, where they played a decisive role in supporting Ethiopian and Angolan communists.
Here, on American shores, DIA analyst Ana Montes did untold damage to American national security by spying for Cuba for a decade plus until her arrest in September 2001. During the Civil Rights era and subsequent ““”Days of Rage” of far-left terrorism, American radicals such as Robert F. Williams, JoAnne Chesimard, and others sought and received protection and immunity from the communist regime. And it wasn’t just armed radicals either. Progressive Democrats such as former New York mayor Bill de Blasio and current mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass have deep connections to Cuba, with the latter being a former organizer and leader of the Venceremos Brigade that not only showed solidarity with the Cuban Communist Party, but also organized annual trips to the island for the purposes of indoctrination and political training.
Lest we so easily forget, U.S. operators dispatched President Maduro’s 32-man bodyguard team prior to his arrest, and all 32 of those guards belonged to a special unit of the Cuban Army.
Suffice it to say, even though the heart of Latin American leftism is now located in Brasilia, Cuba still matters. The Cuban Communist Party actively cooperates with our foreign enemies, allowing both Russia and China to operate intelligence facilities on the island, and funnels money into various radical groups based in the United States. The Nuestra América Convoy, which brought antiwar group Code Pink, Marxist streamer Hasan Piker, and far-left musical group Kneecap to Cuba in a show of radical solidarity with the communist government, unquestionably received financing from the Cuban administration. Even members of Congress, such as Washington Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal, feel no shame in making statements and drafting legislation in support of the Cuban Communist Party.
Enough is enough.
President Trump’s Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore drew a sharp line between communism and Americanism. You cannot be a patriotic American and adhere to an adversarial, foreign creed like Marxism. To do so is to betray the nation and align oneself with America’s enemies. Sadly, the rising DSA tide in the Democratic Party is poised to capture several American municipalities despite espousing a blatantly anti-American creed. This should concern all patriotic Americans, for shifts in urban demographics and rising radicalism among the internet-addicted youth mean that DSA politicians cannot be cast aside as out-of-touch buffoons. They are a real threat, and to counter this threat, the United States should continue to weaken, suppress, and ultimately defeat communist and far-left governments in our own backyard. A great place to start is Cuba.
The goal is and should be the removal of the Cuban Communist Party from power. Doing so would deny our foreign enemies and domestic radicals an ally capable of financial, ideological, and military support. There is also a spiritual angle: Cuba falling in the same year as Venezuela and the humbling of Iran would be a massive psychic blow to the international, third worldist left.
And sometimes psychic blows are impossible to heal.
No matter how it happens, even up to and including a limited ground invasion, the United States cannot pass up a golden opportunity to forever solve the Cuban question. Once upon a time, Cuba was an American protectorate, and maybe it can become one again. Even if that idea is too far-fetched, it cannot be denied that eliminating the Cuban Communist Party is in our best interest. A free Cuba would secure our southern flank and further strengthen the Navy’s dominance in the Caribbean. Also, can you imagine a greater gift for the semiquincentennial?
Me neither.
