Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the time has come for Cuba’s government to be “put out to pasture” while speaking at a bill-signing event on Friday afternoon.
“If you look at the state of Cuba today and in 2026, it is time for the Cuban communist dictatorship to be put out to pasture once and for all,” DeSantis said.
“That would be a good thing for our country. It would be a good thing for Florida,” he continued.
Although he stopped short of calling on President Donald Trump to take military action to liberate the communist island that sits just 100 miles off the coast of Florida, DeSantis’ comments show that Trump isn’t the only Republican keeping an eye on instability in Havana.
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His comments framed his reasoning around a new Florida law that looks to restrict Cuban-linked businesses operating in the Sunshine State in violation of U.S. sanctions.
“You can’t do business with criminals,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis noted that, under Trump’s leadership, the U.S. has taken a renewed, aggressive posture toward securing its interests in the region, positing that some degree of American intervention would be consistent with the administration’s outlook.
“Certainly, President Trump, and how he’s viewed the importance of our own hemisphere, [has] kind of reinvigorated the Monroe Doctrine,” DeSantis said, referring to the interventionist geopolitical philosophy espoused by U.S. President James Monroe.
Trump sparked speculation that the U.S. might take military action against Cuba earlier this year, hinting that he might “take” the island.
“I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba… That’s a big honor. They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time,” Trump told reporters in March.
Trump did not expand on what recourse the U.S. could take against the island or when such an action could occur. His comments came on the heels of a military operation that had removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and, as a consequence, spurred local unrest in Cuba over energy shortages.
Cuba, which has depended on Maduro’s regime and Venezuelan oil to power its energy grid for much of the past 30 years, has found itself struggling to prevent rolling blackouts.
DeSantis’s comments on Cuba came as he signed the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act on Friday — a bill that grants Florida the power to revoke business licenses with ties to Cuba, among other countries.
“It does a lot of different things, but particularly with respect to Cuba, it authorizes local governments and tax collectors to revoke business tax receipts for businesses operating in Cuba in violation of federal law.
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“It creates accountability for false declarations regarding business activities in Cuba; knowingly submitting a false declaration related to unlawful activity involving Cuba will now constitute a third-degree felony in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.
When asked about DeSantis’ comments, a White House spokesperson didn’t comment on whether the U.S. would intervene in Cuba’s current situation, but reaffirmed that the administration believes the regime’s days are numbered.
“As the President stated, Cuba is a failing nation that has been horribly run for many years and whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela. As the President stated, Cuba is a failing country. Within a short period of time they will fall, ‘and we will be there to help them out,'” the spokesperson said.
