Pete Hegseth Trains with Gitmo Troops: Trump’s ‘Got Your Back’
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited Guantánamo Bay and told troops the U.S. will play a decisive role in Cuba's future as the Trump administration escalates efforts against the communist regime.
According to Breitbart News, Hegseth became the third senior American official to travel to Cuba this year, following earlier visits by CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command. The flurry of high-level visits comes as the Trump administration intensifies diplomatic and military efforts to counter the Cuban Communist Party, the only state sponsor of terrorism designated by Washington in the Western Hemisphere and a regime notorious for systematic human rights violations.
President Donald Trump has consistently championed the Cuban exile community and stood firm against global communism. His second term has witnessed a sharp escalation in measures targeting the Communist Party, including sanctions on senior Party officials implicated in criminal activity and restrictions on international corporations doing business with Cuba’s military apparatus. The Castro regime’s regional clout has collapsed, particularly following the American capture of its principal ally, former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The Department of War released footage of Secretary Hegseth addressing American troops at the base, stressing the enduring relevance of the Monroe Doctrine and affirming President Trump’s unwavering support for their mission.
What happens with the future of Cuba is in the hands of the president of the United States, Hegseth told assembled personnel. He pledged that the Department of War would remain prepared and positioned for any contingency.
Hegseth conveyed a direct message from Trump, assuring the troops that the president has their back in all circumstances. He promised to untie their hands and allow them to complete their missions effectively, ensuring that American forces come home while adversaries do not.
The secretary discussed operational readiness with mission leaders, signaling that any aggression by the Cuban communist regime against American forces would be met with a swift and prepared military response. He emphasized that American military power, whether deployed thousands of miles away or just ninety miles from the homeland, remains unmatched globally and ready to act offensively or defensively to protect national interests.
Hegseth underscored that the Trump administration views the Western Hemisphere as critical terrain for national security, a sharp departure from previous administrations that treated the region as peripheral. Beyond Cuba, he cited the dramatic arrest of Maduro in Caracas on terrorism and narcotics trafficking charges, as well as American support for Panama’s conservative government as it works to counter Chinese influence around the U.S.-built Panama Canal.
The visit came approximately two weeks after Gen. Donovan traveled to the island. Unlike Hegseth, the SOUTHCOM commander held an unprecedented meeting with a senior Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces official, Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo. SOUTHCOM stated that the two had a brief operational security discussion at Guantánamo, separate from the general’s inspection of American base operations.
Sotolongo is sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control for his role in the brutal suppression of anti-communist demonstrations on July 11, 2021, and is designated as a violator under the Global Magnitsky Act for human rights abuses.
In May, CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit not to Guantánamo but to Havana itself, meeting with Cuban intelligence officials. While the CIA maintained operational secrecy regarding the visit’s purpose, anonymous American officials told media outlets that Ratcliffe personally delivered President Trump’s message: Washington is prepared to engage seriously on economic and security matters, but only if Cuba implements fundamental reforms.
President Trump has publicly expressed interest in changing the dire status quo in Cuba, where the overwhelming majority of the population endures extreme poverty and government repression while the Castro family and a narrow elite circle enrich themselves.
With information from Breitbart News
