Monroe County monitors Cuba threat report targeting Key West, Guantanamo Bay

Key West’s name surfacing in a report about Cuban drone threats immediately put Monroe County on alert, but Sheriff Rick Ramsay said his office had not been contacted by any state or federal agency about a possible military threat and that he did not see reason for concern.

The report said U.S. intelligence shared with Axios indicated Cuba had acquired more than 300 military drones and was discussing possible strikes against Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Florida. Key West sits about 90 miles north of Havana, a distance that gives the island city an outsized place in any security discussion involving Cuba.

For Monroe County, the issue lands in a community that depends heavily on tourism, boating and steady port activity. The county is the southernmost in the continental United States, includes the entire Florida Keys chain, and had an estimated population of 80,406 on July 1, 2025. Key West itself had a population of 26,444 in the 2020 Census, meaning any credible security scare would ripple through a small and tightly connected public-safety network.

Guantanamo Bay remains the most obvious military focal point. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay was established in 1903 and is the oldest overseas U.S. military installation. The Navy says the base is in Cuba, about 400 air miles from Miami and roughly 430 miles southeast of Miami by road and air reference points. It is also the only U.S. military base located in a country with which the United States does not maintain diplomatic relations.

The potential threat comes against a tense backdrop. Axios reported in April that the Trump administration told Congress Cuba had contributed up to 5,000 fighters to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Days later, the Senate rejected an effort to move forward with legislation that would have barred U.S. military action against Cuba without congressional approval.

For now, Monroe County officials are treating the matter as something to watch, not as an active emergency. Ramsay’s comments suggest local law enforcement has not received operational guidance or a warning that would change daily security posture in Key West, at the county docks or around the Florida Keys. But with Cuba only 90 miles away, and Guantanamo Bay already a fixed point of military concern, even an unconfirmed threat report can quickly resonate in a county that has long lived closest to the edge of U.S.-Cuba tensions.