The Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, Army General Álvaro López Miera, supervised military exercises in the Mayabeque region, about 40 kilometers east of Havana, Cuban state media reported this Friday (29).
According to the state broadcaster’s report, the training focused on handling artillery, optical instruments, communications equipment and shooting exercises.
The exercises come as Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Josefina Vidal, warned this week that the risk of US military aggression against the island is increasing amid the standstill in negotiations between the two countries.
Under the government of President Donald Trump, the United States imposed, in practice, a blockade on Cuba by threatening to apply sanctions to countries that supply fuel to the island.
In the latest escalation of Trump’s pressure campaign against Cuba’s communist government, the United States linked the 1996 downing of civilian aircraft operated by Cuban exiles based in Miami.
This Friday, the American general who oversees forces in Latin America held a rare meeting with officials cubain the area of the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba.
Gen. Francis Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, briefly discussed operational security issues with the delegation cubaalready.
The meeting follows a rare visit by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe to Havana this month.
