Authored by Chris Summers via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on May 17 said the United States is building a “fraudulent case” to justify economic war and eventual military intervention against the Caribbean island nation.Cuban troops participate in a military parade in honor of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro at Revolution Square in Havana on Jan. 2, 2017. Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty ImagesHis comments were a direct response to a report by Axios, which cited classified U.S. intelligence reports saying Cuba had obtained more than 300 military drones and had discussed using them against the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, which is at the eastern end of the island. The Epoch Times is unable to verify the Axios report.“Without any legitimate excuse, the #US government is building, day after day, a fraudulent case to justify a ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and eventual military aggression,” Rodriguez said in a post on X. “Specific media outlets are playing along, promoting slander and leaking insinuations from the U.S. government itself.”The minister did not specifically mention the Axios report about military drones, and he did not formally deny that Cuba possessed such weapons, which have been used by both Russia and Iran, and Tehran’s proxies, in conflicts in recent years.“Cuba does not threaten or desire war,” Rodriguez added. “It defends peace and is willing and preparing to confront external aggression in exercise of the right to legitimate self-defense recognized by the UN Charter.”In a May 18 email to The Epoch Times, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the U.S. president will always act “to protect Americans, our interests and our homeland from any threat.”“President Trump … has taken historic action to rid our backyard of uncontrolled migration, dangerous narco trafficking, organized crime, and hostile foreign military presence,” the department said.“Cuba, a failed Communist state which has long hosted hostile foreign military, intelligence and terror groups, presents a significant threat to our national security that President Trump will not allow to devolve into a greater crisis to the safety and security of Americans.”In a May 17 post on X, Monroe County Sheriff’s office, which covers the Florida Keys, said, “Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay has not been contacted by any federal or state authorities regarding news reports Sunday of any possible military action taken by Cuba against the U.S. military base in Cuba at Guantanamo Bay using drones.”The post quoted Ramsay as saying he did not believe there was any reason to be concerned.“I am confident I will be notified if anything does change and I will alert the public,” Ramsay added.The Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón, said in a May 17 post on X that the people of Cuba “stand ready to defend their territory, their sovereignty, and their independence.”“Cuba would never initiate an attack on any country, let alone the United States,” Eva Golinger, an attorney and writer based in New York, said in a May 17 post on X. “They do, however, have the right to self defense under international law, as all countries do, if they are attacked.”U.S. President Donald Trump has previously said Cuba persecutes and tortures political opponents, provides a safe haven for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and constitutes an “extraordinary threat to U.S. national security and foreign policy.”Last week, Cuba said it poses no threat to U.S. national security and that there are no legitimate grounds for it to remain on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other officials visited Cuba on May 14, at the invitation of the communist regime in Havana. At the time, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba referred The Epoch Times to the White House for comment, which in turn referred it to the CIA. The CIA didn’t respond to an email seeking comment on that meeting.Fuel CrisisCuban Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said on May 13 that the country has completely run out of diesel and heavy fuel oil, and its power grid has entered a critical state.O Levy said Cuba had not received any oil imports since December, until Russia sent 100,000 tons (about 700,000 barrels) of crude last month.Trump said on Truth Social last week that Cuba was asking for help and that the two countries were going to talk.Newly erected holding tents for detained migrants at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Feb. 21, 2025. U.S. Navy/AFN Guantanamo Bay Public Affairs via ReutersThe regime in Cuba was founded in 1959 after rebels led by Fidel Castro ousted U.S.-backed leader Fulgencio Batista. Under Castro’s leadership, the regime moved toward Marxism-Leninism and consolidated one-party communist rule in the years that followed. Cuba was closely allied with the Soviet Union until the bloc’s collapse in the early 1990s.Cuba was heavily reliant on Venezuelan oil, supplied by former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s socialist regime, but that supply was stopped after he was ousted in January and replaced by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez.Mexico also stopped sending oil, under pressure from the United States.A watch tower at Camp X-Ray, which was the first detention facility to hold what the U.S. government described as “enemy combatants,” at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on June 27, 2013. Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesThe U.S. State Department said in a May 13 post on X that it “is publicly restating the United States’ generous offer to provide additional direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.”“The Cuban regime must decide whether to accept our offer or deny life-saving help for the Cuban people, who desperately need it,” the State Department said.
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