HAVANA — Cuba’s government said its armed forces are preparing for the “possibility” of a U.S. attack as tensions escalate following recent statements from President Donald Trump.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the country is taking precautionary steps to ensure it is ready for any scenario, while emphasizing that a military confrontation remains unlikely.
The warning comes amid increasingly heated rhetoric from Washington. Trump has suggested the United States could take stronger action against Cuba, including remarks about potentially “taking” or “liberating” the island. His administration has also increased economic pressure through sanctions and what Cuban officials describe as an effective oil blockade.
In an interview on “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, the Cuban official said it would be “naive” not to prepare given global developments.
“Our military is always prepared, and in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression,” he said.
Cuban officials have rejected the idea that the island poses a threat, instead accusing the United States of escalating tensions. Fernández de Cossío said his government remains committed to peace but must be prepared to defend itself.
The developments come as Cuba faces a deepening domestic crisis, with fuel shortages, widespread blackouts, and mounting economic strain.
The Cuban official’s remarks come just days after President Donald Trump said it would be “a big honor” to be the president that has the “honor of taking Cuba.”
“Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba – I mean, whether I free it, take it: I think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth,” Trump said, despite the fact Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed diplomacy with the failing regime over any talk of an invasion as Trump’s statement might suggest.
“They’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it,” Rubio said this week. “So they have to get new people in charge.”
But Fernández de Cossío said Cuba is “absolutely” opposed to regime change, signaling defiance of Trump and Rubio’s public statements and setting the stage for potential military action down the road.
Despite the rising tensions, both sides have acknowledged ongoing — though largely undisclosed — diplomatic contacts.
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Shocker, The Communists, the ones with electricity and gas don’t want to give up power…. Well, this is not 1962.
Who would even want that island? It would just be another ‘money pit’ for tax paying U.S. Americans.
I’d guess that within the next several years, to a decade at the most, their own people will take it back and it will become a friend to the U.S.
We’ve just got to make sure that no other country ( Russia or China, etc. ) gets their claws on that island.