Translated with a local libretranslate

The journey goes back to Havana in the increasingly aggressive and hypocritical course of Washington. On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth visited the Guantanamo naval base on occupied Cuban territory and told the soldiers stationed there: “Bald we can be friends of the Cuban government” after he had threatened the country with military consequences, Cuba should expand its defense.

Hegseth called it “foolish”, should the Cuban government try to get weapons systems that could reach the Guantanamo naval base or even the American mainland. Such a development will not accept Washington. In this case, the Minister threatened with military retaliation and direct attacks on the socialist island republic. “What becomes of Cuba’s future is in the hands of the President of the United States and the Cuban leadership,” says Hegseth. The Pentagon will provide the commander Donald Trump with “all options” he might need in such a scenario.

The narrative of a threat to new Cuban weapons systems has been increasingly spread by US media and political actors for several months. For example, the US intelligence platform Axios claimed about mid-May, Cuba had over 300 ready-to-use fighting drones that could attack targets on the North American mainland. Concrete documents for this presentation were not submitted. The government in Havana rejected the accusations as untenable and spoke of a targeted disinformation campaign. Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla stated that the spread of such allegations would be to construct a threat scenario in the US public and thus justify a further tightening of policy towards Havana.

The presence of the U.S. Army and high-ranking military representatives in the Caribbean has been significantly strengthened. After a visit to the CIA director John Ratcliffe in the region a few days ago the commander of the South Command, General Francis Donovan, also arrived in Cuba. Already before, Washington had transferred its largest aircraft carrier to water near the coast of the country.

The consequences of the sharpened US blockade are increasingly noticeable in the socialist island republic. In particular, the oil embargo has further strengthened the already tightened supply situation and led to severe restrictions in energy supply, transport and public services. Recurring power failures affect school operations and health, while bottlenecks in fuel and medical equipment make the supply of the population more difficult. On Monday, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk criticized the serious impact of US policy on the Cuban population. The blockade meets particularly vulnerable groups and dangerous basic economic, social and health rights.

The White House responded to this on Wednesday with the reference to national security allegedly threatened by the Cuban government. The sanctions were directed against organisations and persons who were a threat to the US, a government representative told Reuters.

Hegseth’s visit not only caused criticism because of his threats to Cuba. Thus, the Minister of War, the 15 remaining prisoners of the torture camp set up on the naval basis, declared a connection to the attacks of 11th. September 2001 should have been executed long ago. In fact, only two of them were sentenced to military courts. Over the past 25 years, the United States held more than 800 people in the camp – many of them without charges. Many former prisoners report on systematic torture and other serious human rights violations.