US-Cuba relations

Rubio: Cuba has accepted $100 million in emergency aid

Cuba has accepted an offer of $100 million, equivalent to almost 940 million kronor, in emergency aid, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said according to AFP.

Officially, Cuba has so far only said that it is reviewing the US offer. Tensions between the countries are high, especially since the US indicted Cuba's former president Raúl Castro on Wednesday.

The US has offered the aid on the condition that the Catholic Church and other non-governmental institutions handle it.

- They say they have accepted it. We'll see if that means it will be resolved, Rubio told reporters.

US aircraft carrier in place in the sea near Cuba

The US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its battle group are in place in the Caribbean, reports the New York Times. This at a time when tensions between the US and Cuba have increased again. According to the US Southern Command, the ship will remain in the area for several days as a warning to Cuba.

However, the plan at this time is not to use Nimitz as a base for a military operation, similar to the one carried out against Venezuela earlier this year and which was launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford. This is what a military source told the newspaper.

On Wednesday, the US announced that former Cuban President Raul Castro is being indicted, and Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that an attack on Cuba may be in the works.

Analyst: Cuba much more difficult target than Venezuela

A US operation against Cuba would be significantly more difficult than the operation in Venezuela when Nicolás Maduro was arrested and taken away. This is what several experts Al Jazeera spoke to say.

Carlos Malamud, an analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, says the Cuban military is both better prepared and better equipped than the Venezuelan one.

Sebastian Arcos at Florida International University’s Institute for Cuban Studies, for his part, says the military is outdated but points out that it has had plenty of time to prepare.

Both agree that Cuba’s proximity to the United States is an aggravating factor. Unlike Iran or Venezuela, Cuba has the ability to strike back against the American mainland.