{"id":118963,"date":"2026-05-18T12:15:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=118963"},"modified":"2026-05-18T12:15:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:15:19","slug":"cuba-accuses-us-of-building-fraudulent-case-for-military-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=118963","title":{"rendered":"Cuba accuses US of building \u2018fraudulent case\u2019 for military action"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cuba\u2019s foreign minister has accused the US of building a \u201cfraudulent case\u201d for military intervention, following a report that it had acquired attack drones capable of targeting Florida.<\/p>\n

Bruno Rodr\u00edguez stressed that Havana \u201cneither threatens nor desires war\u201d after US news site Axios reported, citing classified intelligence, that Cuba now possessed 300 drones and was discussing striking nearby US targets.<\/p>\n

Cuba is suffering from a fuel crisis, exacerbated by an effective US oil blockade, while under pressure by the Trump administration to \u201cmake a deal\u201d.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump has threatened Cuba\u2019s communist regime with similar intervention to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n

Cuba is thought to now be considering using the drones to hit Guantanamo Bay, the US military base on the Caribbean island, as well as naval vessels and possibly Key West in Florida, according to the\u00a0Axios report\u00a0published on Sunday.<\/p>\n

It quoted a US official who said the intelligence \u2013 which it characterised as a potential pretext for US military intervention \u2013 also suggested Iranian military advisers were in Havana.<\/p>\n

Iranian drones have been central to drone warfare in both the war in the Middle East and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout any legitimate excuse whatsoever, the US government builds, day after day, a fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and the eventual military aggression,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez wrote on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecific media outlets play along, promoting slander and leaking insinuations from the US government itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that, while Cuba did not wish for war, it was preparing itself for \u201cexternal aggression\u201d and self-defence.<\/p>\n

Havana has been in talks with the US on finding solutions to the two countries\u2019 differences for several months, with a single Russian shipment of oil that was allowed to reach the island running out earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Cubans are now suffering through rolling blackouts that have affected hospitals and pumping stations, as well as disrupting public transport and rubbish collections.<\/p>\n

Coupled with shortages of food and medicine, the situation has triggered rare shows of public dissent against the communist government, which has presided over deteriorating infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\"Cuba<\/figure>\n

Cuba had until recently survived crippling Western sanctions due to the help of regional allies, such as Maduro\u2019s government in Venezuela, which was believed to have sent it around 35,000 barrels of oil a day prior to his capture by US forces in early January.<\/p>\n

It appears the Trump administration is now stepping up its pressure campaign.<\/p>\n

US surveillance flights around Cuba have increased and there is a planned build-up of US forces in the region, the New York Times reported on Friday.<\/p>\n

CIA Director John Ratcliffe had demanded that Cuba \u201cno longer be a safe haven for adversaries in the western hemisphere\u201d\u00a0during a visit to Havana the day before.<\/p>\n

His meeting with Cuban officials came as reports emerged that the US was\u00a0planning to indict Ra\u00fal Castro, who led Cuba following the resignation of his brother, Fidel, who overthrew the US-backed government there in 1959.<\/p>\n

It was a federal indictment against the left-wing authoritarian Maduro that was used by the Trump administration as its justification for its daring raid on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to seize him and his wife, Cilia Flores. The pair are now due to stand trial in New York on charges including drug trafficking.<\/p>\n

In the months preceding that raid, Trump repeatedly accused his government of posing a threat to the US, while a large US military force amassed nearby.<\/p>\n

Since seizing Maduro, Trump has spoken of Cuba being \u201cnext\u201d and having \u201cthe honour of taking Cuba\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump has increasingly framed US policy on the region through the lens of reviving the 1823 \u201cMonroe Doctrine\u201d that the US should be the sole arbiter when it came to the Western hemisphere \u2013 re-branding it the \u201cDonroe Doctrine\u201d.<\/p>\n

His administration has taken a greater interest in Latin America and the left-wing leaders with whom he has ideological differences than his recent predecessors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Cuba’s foreign minister has accused the US of building a “fraudulent case” for military intervention, following a report that it had acquired attack drones capable of targeting Florida.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8379,17997,1910,10,9,2044],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba","category-fraudulent-case","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-us"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/118967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}