Havana—The Cuban government has strongly condemned the United States’ deployment of military forces in the Caribbean Sea, calling the move a dangerous provocation that threatens the sovereignty and stability of the region.
In a statement issued August 28, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the U.S. operation as “an aggressive show of force” that blatantly disregards the 2014 declaration by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which designated the region a Zone of Peace.
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Cuba rejected what it termed “absurd pretexts” advanced by Washington to justify the buildup, including unsubstantiated allegations linking the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro to narcotics trafficking. Havana pointed to the most recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report, which does not list Venezuela as a significant actor in operations affecting the American market.
“The United States resorts to lies and manipulations to justify interventionist policies,” the statement read, comparing the situation to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when claims of weapons of mass destruction were used to rationalize military action. “This pretext served to attack and invade a sovereign country, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and the forced displacement of a similar figure.”
The Cuban government argued that the U.S. itself is the single largest consumer of narcotics worldwide, thereby fueling the very trafficking networks it now claims to combat. It further criticized Washington for failing to confront the problem domestically while externalizing blame onto Latin America and the Caribbean.
The statement also drew attention to the role of the U.S. arms industry in feeding organized crime and violence across the region.
“No one with minimum common sense and honesty believes that the quantity of troops, combat matériel, naval forces—including nuclear submarines—and the firepower that the U.S. has sought to deploy in this peaceful area of the world is the appropriate manner to fight organized crime, illicit drug trafficking, or irregular migration flows,” the Cuban government said.
Reaffirming its commitment to combating drug trafficking while safeguarding sovereignty, Havana emphasized its dedication to peacebuilding in the region. It also echoed recent remarks by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) summit, in which he urged nations to denounce “imperialist shows of force.”
