US Senate blocks bid to stop Trump using military against Cuba

The United States Senate has blocked a resolution that would have prevented President Donald Trump from ordering ⁠military action against Cuba without congressional approval.

The Republican-led Senate voted 51 to 47 on Tuesday, almost entirely along party lines, on a procedural measure that blocked a Democratic-led war powers resolution, ⁠as members of Trump’s party argued that there are no active US hostilities against Cuba and curbing the president’s powers was not necessary.

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who introduced the point of order that stopped the resolution, said a war powers vote was not appropriate because Trump has not deployed ‌troops against Havana.

In a later post on social media, Scott said: “If we want REAL reform in Cuba, the illegitimate Castro/Diaz-Canel regime must fall.”

“I am glad that under [President Trump]’s leadership, there is actual hope for a new day of freedom, prosperity and Patria y Vida (homeland and life),” he said.

Trump has threatened the Cuban leadership several times in recent months and has warned that “Cuba is next”.

The warnings come amid Washington’s war on Iran and following after US forces abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January – military operations that did not receive authorisation from Congress.

Most recently, Trump pledged “a new dawn for Cuba”.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a lead sponsor of the resolution to curtail Trump’s move against Cuba, had argued that US efforts to block fuel shipments reaching the Communist-ruled island already constituted a form of military action.

“If anyone were doing to the United States what we are doing to Cuba, we would definitely regard it as an act of war,” Kaine said in a Senate speech before the vote.

“My argument is that under the terms of the resolution, we are already engaged in hostilities with Cuba because we are using American force, primarily the Coast Guard, but other assets as well, to engage in a very devastating economic blockade of the nation,” Kaine said.

Tuesday’s vote was the first pertaining to Cuba, and it comes as Democrats ⁠have failed repeatedly in both the Senate and House ⁠of Representatives to force Trump to obtain congressional authorisation for his military operations.

Although the US Constitution says only Congress, not the president, can declare war, that restriction does not apply to short-term ‌operations ‌or to counter an immediate threat.

The White House says Trump’s actions are within his rights and obligation, as commander-in-chief, to protect the US.