Report: Cuba Weighing Attacks on US Soil
US officials said Cuba does not pose the same military threat it did during the 1962 missile crisis, but its proximity to the United States makes the reported drone buildup a concern.
Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and has discussed using them to strike US and Caribbean targets, including Guantanamo Bay, American ships in the Caribbean and the southernmost point of the continental United States, Axios reported Sunday, citing US intelligence.
The report said Cuba has been obtaining attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023. Iranian military advisers were also recently in Havana, according to the report, as Cuban intelligence officials sought to study how Tehran resisted the United States during previous confrontations and during Operation Epic Fury.
“When we think about those types of technologies being that close, and a range of bad actors from terror groups to drug cartels to Iranians to the Russians, it’s concerning,” one official told Axios. “It’s a growing threat.”
The report also said Russia and China maintain espionage facilities in Cuba for collecting signals intelligence.
US officials estimate that as many as 5,000 Cuban soldiers have fought for Russia in Ukraine. Some of those fighters reportedly briefed Cuban leaders on the value of drone warfare. Moscow is said to have paid Havana about $25,000 for each soldier sent to Ukraine.
“They’re part of the Putin meat grinder. They’re learning about Iranian tactics. It’s something we have to plan for,” a senior official told Axios.
The report comes as Cuba faces severe internal pressure. The country’s electrical grid suffered a partial collapse early Thursday, cutting power across eastern Cuba. The island has been suffering from prolonged blackouts, with many residents, including in Havana, going without electricity for 20 hours or more a day.
The crisis has worsened since January, when US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries supplying Cuba with fuel. Venezuela and Mexico, previously major suppliers, have since stopped shipments.
Trump has predicted that Cuba will collapse and has said he wants to remove the communist-run government. He also previously said Cuba was “next” after the fall of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana on Thursday and delivered a message from Trump that Washington would engage with Cuba on economic and security issues only if the government makes fundamental changes.
“Cuba can no longer serve as a platform for adversaries to advance hostile agendas in our hemisphere,” a CIA official said.
The Justice Department is also expected to unseal an indictment against Raúl Castro over the 1996 shootdown of planes operated by the Florida-based group Brothers to the Rescue. Additional sanctions against Cuba are expected in the coming weeks.
US officials said Cuba does not pose the same military threat it did during the 1962 missile crisis, but its proximity to the United States makes the reported drone buildup a concern.