Democrats try to halt Trump in Cuba

Francesca Chambers

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – With the clock ticking down on the Trump administration’s ultimatum to Cuba’s government, congressional Democrats are scrambling to stop President Donald Trump from starting another military conflict.

Democratic Reps. Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Pramila Jayapal of Washington told their colleagues on April 21 during a closed-door meeting of the Congressional Progressive Caucus that they need to apply more pressure, the lawmakers told USA TODAY in interviews.

The group agreed to back a resolution that would prohibit Trump from unilaterally launching an invasion and a bill that would prohibit him from using federal funds for an operation. They also threw their support behind legislation that would repeal the U.S. trade embarg. The measures must receive final sign-off from the caucus, Jayapal said, but that’s usually a routine process.

Efforts by Democrats escalated after USA TODAY reported that senior State Department officials delivered an ultimatum to Cuba’s communist government during a secret meeting. U.S. diplomats told their Cuban counterparts that they had a small window to meet U.S. demands before circumstances irreversibly worsened. Days earlier, USA TODAY exclusively reported the Pentagon was asked to

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draw up contingency plans in case Trump decides to launch a military operation.

Democrats realistically have few tools at their disposal to constrain Trump, with Republicans in control of both chambers of the legislative branch. They’ve appealed to Trump in official letters and hammered the State Department for answers. After getting nowhere with their own government, Jayapal and Jackson made a rare trip to Havana in early April to speak directly with the Cuban president.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, is aiming to force a vote on a war powers resolution, while Trump has been using heated rhetoric like, “Cuba is next.”

“I don’t think that we should just assume, oh well, he’s just bluffing. I think you have to take that seriously,” Kaine said.

Trump did not slap down the notion that he was considering military action on April 17 when reporters prodded him to comment.

“I do anticipate the United States will have military action in Cuba, that these violent words precede violent actions,”Jackson said. “There’s a pattern here that the administration has engaged in. When they say they’re ready to negotiate, that means they’re ready to invade.”

Democrats have tried and failed repeatedly to pass similar resolutions constraining Trump when it comes to Iran and are unlikely to win majority support now. Still, unfavorable views of the conflict in the Middle East have left Democrats hopeful that there’s room for dialogue with Cuba.

“One message the president should take away from how unpopular his attack on Iran has been, is that he should not attack another country, and that definitely includes Cuba,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts.

Real negotiations

After their trip to Havana, the first known visit by U.S. lawmakers since 2024, Jayapal and Jackson said they wanted to see what was happening firsthand.

Cuba has been hit with rolling blackouts and internet outages amid an energy crisis that has worsened since the United States hit the island with an oil blockade following the arrest of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Cuba is under heavy U.S. sanctions and a longstanding embargo that requires the communist government to make sweeping political and economic changes, including the release of political prisoners, before the island can legally do business with American companies.

Jayapal, Jackson and 50 other Democrats in the House and Senate, including Warren and Kaine, sent a letter to Trump on April 2 urging him to reverse course.

While in Cuba, Jayapal said she pushed for real negotiations in the face of Trump’s threats.

“There was a real concern about moving to military action and another failed regime change effort instead of pursuing a real country-to-country negotiation,” Jayapal said after the trip.

The Trump administration said it won’t let the island collapse into what the president considers to be a major national security threat if Cuba’s leaders are unwilling or unable to act.

A State Department official said U.S. officials told their Cuban counterparts at the April 10 meeting that the nation’s economy is in free fall and the island’s ruling elites have a narrow window to make significant reforms that would help Cuba attract foreign investment.

A source with knowledge of the conversation said the Trump administration gave Cuba’s government two weeks to release high-profile political prisoners as a goodwill gesture.

The Cuban government initially insisted that no deadline was offered and the talks were nothing but respectful. Several days later, in an April 23 interview with the Associated Press, the Cuban ambassador to the United Nations said Havana would not abide by American “ultimatums” to release political prisoners and was “ready to fight back” against U.S. military aggression if diplomacy fails.

A White House official said in response to a request for comment from USA TODAY that Cuba is a failing nation that will fall in a short period of time, at which point the United States would stand ready to help. The official did not comment directly on the pressure campaign from Democrats.

War powers

Democrats have been using privileged resolutions in the Senate to trigger war powers votes on Iran and plan to use the procedure to bypass Republican leaders and bring their Cuba measure directly to the floor.

They’ve also leaned into letters and public hearings as a way to hold the administration accountable.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, demanded to know at an April 16 hearing of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Latin America who on the U.S. side was involved in the ongoing talks.

“The president may launch a war against this country, and I want to know if there’s a chance if we’re going to avoid that or not,” Castro told senior State Department official Michael Kozak.

Kozak would only say that Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are “supervising” the conversations, which he said were aimed at fulfilling the political, social and economic conditions required to lift the trade embargo.

Many congressional Democrats want to lift the embargo even if a deal can’t be reached.

A man waves a Cuban flag after a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of Fidel Castro’s declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution in Havana on April 16.

NORLYS PEREZ/REUTERS