Carl Cannon said on the RCP podcast that, of course, he has no sympathy for the Castro regime in Cuba, but warns that charging Raul Castro for shooting down two American planes in 1996 could invite future scrutiny of U.S. officials — perhaps over things like quasi-legal air strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. But this indictment raises a question in my mind,” he said. This is 30 years ago. These people were killed. It was sad. But this indictment is brought by an administration that has conducted more than 60 lethal strikes of its own in the Caribbean and killed nearly 200 people.” Cannon said the world could look very different 50 years from now. Is the World Court or Cuba or China, somebody, going to indict Pete Hegseth when he’s in his mid-90s on these charges? “It just seems to me sort of backdoor diplomacy. It seems to me somewhat hypocritical in this instance, when the United States military is doing what it is doing in the Caribbean right now,” Cannon said. “They don’t make that connection, but I made it instantly, and I think others in the world are going to make it.” “Secretary Rubio said to the Cubans, ‘I know you’re going through enormous hardships now,’ and he laid out the reasons why: because you have this corrupt socialist government that’s a police state, that has siphoned billions of dollars for their own benefit instead of investing it in infrastructure and things for the people,” Cannon also said. “Marco Rubio was half right.” “The other reason Cuba is a basket case is the United States has had these longtime sanctions against the place.” “And what this administration is offering – the last three or four administrations have done this,” he warned. “That deal has sort of always been on the table. Fidel Castro and his brother were never willing to take it.” “They had the Russians backing them, then they had Venezuela backing. Some thought they had Iran and China secretly backing. But the gig is finally up,” he said. “But how do they get there? You still have the police state.” “These are people who have run the island since 1959, and their sons and grandsons. They’re afraid of going to prison themselves or being killed or being prosecuted or being held to account. So the administration has to figure out a way to effect this change peacefully. That’s clearly what they’re trying to do.” “I don’t think they want an invasion,” he said. “For one thing, that was tried once and it failed.”
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