May 18 (Reuters) – Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Monday that any US military action against Cuba would lead to a ‘bloodbath’ with incalculable consequences for peace and stability in the region.
‘Cuba does not represent a threat,’ said Díaz-Canel in a post on X.
The comments follow an Axios report published on Sunday, citing confidential information, that said Cuba had acquired more than 300 military drones and discussed plans to use them to attack the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military ships and Key West, Florida.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez, in a separate post, said that Cuba, ‘like all nations in the world’, has the right to legitimate self-defense against external aggression, in accordance with the UN Charter and international law. He also stated that those who seek to attack Cuba use false pretexts to justify doing so.
Cuba, Washington’s communist enemy for generations, has been under increasing pressure since the United States cut off its energy supply following the arrest of the president of then-ally Venezuela in January. Over the past few weeks, fuel has run out and electricity is only available for an hour or two a day.
Tensions between the two countries have increased significantly in recent days. Reuters reported last week, citing U.S. Department of Justice sources, that prosecutors planned to indict former Cuban leader Raúl Castro for the shooting down of two planes operated by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue in 1996.
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This indictment of Castro, 94, would mark a major escalation in pressure on Cuba from the Trump administration, which describes the island’s government as corrupt and incompetent while pushing for change.
