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[–] 5 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Spain invented the modern concentration camp trying to hold the island by force in the late 1800s.

I think the Trump admin would probably try to do the same decapitation without boots-on-ground playbook they’ve done in Iran + Venezuela, but it wouldn’t be pretty if they tried landing troops.

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  • [–] 4 points 44 minutes ago (1 child)

    1800s are pretty different from today.
    Cuba never had a self sufficient military. Most of their heavy equipment came from the soviets and hasn't been refreshed.

    The island is within helicopter range of multiple US airbases. There's a well positioned military base already in place on the island.

    Holding a jungle with unwilling people fighting you is never going to be easy, but there's a lot of differences between what Spain was against and what the US would be against.

    The biggest issue would be that Cuba could plausibly actually land an attack on the US. It would be basically a coin toss on if that made people furious at Cuba or the administration.

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  • [–] 2 points 30 minutes ago

    Absolutely agreed, I don’t mean to comment beyond the fact it would be hard to hold ground permanently because 1) economic strife aside, people don’t like getting their national sovereignty trampled on and 2) people can hang out indefinitely in the jungle with guns to attack if you try fullblown occupation.

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