A senior Cuban official said the country is preparing for a possible military assault as President Donald Trump increases economic pressure on the government in Havana and suggests it could be the next US target after Venezuela and Iran.
“Our military is always prepared,”
Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. “And in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression. We would be naive if, looking at what's happening around the world, we would not do that. But we truly hope that it doesn't occur.”
De Cossio declined to specify the military preparations. His comments are in line with Cuba's defiant stance as Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ratchet up rhetoric against the communist-run leadership.
Since confirming talks with the US, Cuba's government released a small number of political prisoners and offered to open up its economy to investment from Cubans living abroad. Rubio criticized those offers last week as “not dramatic enough.”
De Cossio said that while Cuba “is open for business,” political change dictated by the US and discussions about prisoners in Cuban jails are off the table.
“The nature of the Cuban government, the structure of the Cuban government, and the members of the Cuban government are not part of the negotiation,” he told NBC.
US sanctions aimed at its Cuba's economy have tightened under Trump and now include a de-facto fuel blockade, leaving the island squeezed of energy sources, supplies and funding. A nationwide blackout hit Cuba last week, at least the sixth within about a year. The island reported another complete outage on Saturday.
“It is very severe,” de Cossio said of the fuel squeeze, adding that he hopes that “this boycott that the United States has been imposing does not last and cannot be sustained forever.”
Cuba “is not in a state of collapse,” he said. “We're being as creative as possible
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