Hegseth Visits 4,500-Resident Guantánamo Base as Trump Presses Cuba for Changes
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Hegseth Visits 4,500-Resident Guantánamo Base as Trump Presses Cuba for Changes
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Summary
Pete Hegseth traveled to Guantánamo Bay on Wednesday, with the Pentagon saying the defense secretary’s stop at the U.S. base was meant to engage with troops.
The visit comes as the Trump administration increases pressure on Cuba’s government for political and economic changes, even as U.S. and Cuban militaries recently resumed rare contact at the base fence line.
Gen. Francis Donovan met a senior Cuban military official there about two weeks ago in the first such base visit in more than a year, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe also went to Cuba last month.
Guantánamo is currently quiet: only five migrants are being held there after the administration’s detention plan never scaled up beyond fewer than 900 total transfers, and military-commission hearings remain paused until August.