Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Wednesday said the U.S. won\u2019t need to use military action in Cuba and that he thinks the Cuban people will \u201crise up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to have to do it,\u201d Scott said when asked about possible military intervention on \u201cThe Hill with Blake Burman\u201d on NewsNation, The Hill\u2019s broadcast partner. \u201cI think what\u2019s going to happen is, we\u2019ve seen the Cuban people rise up, and that\u2019s why there\u2019s political prisoners right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott\u2019s comments come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging former Cuban President Ra\u00fal Castro with murder, and the country has faced an energy embargo imposed by the U.S. after Maduro\u2019s capture. Cuban officials have said the country has run out of fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott earlier on Wednesday told reporters the \u201csame thing that happened to Maduro should happen to Ra\u00fal Castro,\u201d referring to the mission launched by U.S. forces in January to capture Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro. He noted, however, that he did not want to \u201cget ahead of whatever the Trump administration wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later on Wednesday, Scott made a similar comment to Burman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think in the end, Trump\u2019s going to have to go in and obliterate the regime,\u201d the Florida GOP senator said, after noting that he thought Castro would \u201cmove to another country and walk away from the atrocities that he\u2019s committed,\u201d following the U.S. indictment against him. However, Scott noted that he thought Castro is \u201cgoing to end up serving justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI mean, he\u2019ll go to trial and he\u2019ll, you know, he probably doesn\u2019t have years to live, but whatever he has left, he\u2019ll be in prison in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Trump told reporters on Wednesday that the administration has Cuba \u201con our mind\u201d but that there would not be a U.S. escalation against the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there needs to be,\u201d Trump said, referring to a potential escalation. \u201cLook, the place is falling apart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castro\u2019s charges stem from an incident in 1996 when four men were killed when their planes, which they were using to search for people potentially seeking to leave the island, were shot down by the Cuban military, which Castro was in charge of at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans, kill them, and not face accountability,\u201d acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference in Miami on Wednesday while announcing the indictment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blanche alluded to the threat of invasion, though he said the charges were not part of a \u201cshow indictment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castro, 94, stepped down from leadership in 2018, but the U.S. considers him to be the effective leader of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comments and indictment come on the heels of a visit to Cuba last week by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who went to \u201cpersonally deliver President Trump\u2019s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,\u201d according to the CIA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n