Carlos Giménez Issues Warning to Bruno Rodríguez: "The Ship Might Set Sail and Come for All of You"

The United States' military buildup in the Caribbean is paralleled by a diplomatic clash unfolding on social media.

After Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez leveled accusations against the U.S. and Florida politicians, Congressman Carlos A. Giménez responded with a straightforward message on X, warning high-ranking officials of the Cuban regime and their allies in Venezuela.

"Bruno, beware that the ship might set sail and come for all of you, the murderous dictatorship’s narcoterrorist henchmen in Cuba. The people will not defend you; quite the opposite. Patria y Vida," wrote the Cuban-American legislator.

His remarks followed Rodríguez's public denunciation of what he termed a "military aggression against Venezuela," in response to the entry of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier into the Caribbean, accompanied by eight warships, a nuclear submarine, and F-35 jets as part of Operation Southern Lance.

Rodríguez accused the State Department of attempting to "normalize and legitimize" an attack on a sovereign nation, while blaming Florida politicians for inciting military actions against Nicolás Maduro's government.

The Cuban foreign minister claimed that Washington uses a "dishonest ploy" by linking the Venezuelan leader to drug trafficking and terrorism.

In his statement, he asserted that these scourges have been "promoted in this region by the U.S. Government, its intelligence and drug agencies, and by individuals associated" with the same Florida leaders he accuses of advocating for intervention.

The response from the United States was swift.

Before Giménez's remarks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had reacted with a starkly different gesture: he posted a GIF of a red-wigged clown on X. Without a single word, his mockery served as the most pointed and viral political retort of the day.

The climate is tense. The U.S. deployment occurs as the White House asserts that the operation aims to "cut off drug trafficking routes" linked to the Cartel of the Suns, which the State Department will officially classify as a terrorist organization starting November 24.

However, Caracas perceives it as a threat of intervention, and from Havana, the narrative is repeated that Washington is fabricating pretexts to justify war.

An unexpected element was added to the tension when President Donald Trump hinted at potential "talks" with Maduro, a vague message that seemed to contradict the prevailing military rhetoric and left open the possibility of a diplomatic shift.

In this still uncertain context, the verbal exchange between Rodríguez and figures like Rubio and Giménez reflects more than a political skirmish: it highlights the depths of geopolitical confrontation, the fears of Chavismo, and the stance of the Cuban-American diaspora, which does not believe in fabricated war threats but in a regime incapable of withstanding real pressure.

The question now is whether tensions will continue to escalate or if, amid military deployments and incendiary messages, diplomacy will still have a role to play.