Cuba faces mounting pressure, warns of possible US aggression

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister said that the country’s armed forces are preparing for the “possibility of military aggression” from the United States, warning it would be “naive” for its leaders to ignore the potential for conflict.

“Our military is always prepared, and in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression,” Carlos Fernández de Cossío told NBC News.

“We would be naive” not to consider the possibility of conflict, he added, “looking at what’s happening around the world.” Fernández de Cossío said the country’s leaders “truly hope that it doesn’t occur. We don’t see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever.”

Tensions between Washington and Havana have been intensifying following a US military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of that nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, a close ally of Cuba’s leadership.

During a press conference after the operation, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio signaled that military intervention in Cuba could be next. 

“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned,” Rubio said at the time.

In January, Trump signed an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on goods from countries supplying oil to Cuba. The island nation has faced daily power outages amid the US blockade, and on March 22 its power grid collapsed for the third time this month. Fernández de Cossío said the oil blockade stemmed from US hostility toward Cuba and warned that it “cannot be sustained forever.”

By Vafa Guliyeva