Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to visit Florida, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as U.S. tensions with the island continue

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is traveling to Florida Wednesday. During the trip, he plans to visit Tampa and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Just last month, the commander of U.S. Southern Command met with senior Cuban military officials in a rare meeting on the perimeter of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military base located in Cuba's southeast.

Secretary Hegseth's trip to Cuba comes as the U.S. continues an oil blockade against the country, and President Donald Trump threatens to oust the nation's leaders by force.

Today, Cuba's top diplomat in the United States, Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera, is condemning the U.S. sanctions placed on Cuban leaders. Torres Rivera says Cuba is not a threat and that any effort to change Cuba's government by force or coercion will be met with fierce resistance.

Secretary Hegseth's trip to Cuba comes just weeks after the Trump administration indicted 95-year-old Raul Castro for murder in connection with the attack on two Brothers to the Rescue planes that killed four men in 1996.