By Nicole Jao
NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) – Cuba is prepared for the unlikely possibility of a military engagement with the U.S., Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said over the weekend in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the Caribbean island nation.
Havana and Washington entered talks earlier this month as an oil blockade imposed by Trump pushes the Communist-run nation deeper into economic crisis. Trump on Monday escalated his rhetoric against Cuba, saying he expected to have the “honor” of taking Cuba.
“Our country has historically been ready to mobilize as a nation as a whole for military aggression … We don’t believe it is something that is probable, but we would be naive if we do not prepare,” de Cossio told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in remarks aired on Sunday. “We don’t see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever.”
Reports had suggested the Trump administration was seeking to remove Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel from power.
De Cossio also said any suggestion of the nature, the structure, or members of the Cuban government being subject to negotiation in talks with the U.S. is untrue.
He added a regime change is “absolutely” off the table in discussions with the United States.
The U.S. military is not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba or actively preparing to militarily take over the island, the top general overseeing American forces in Latin America told lawmakers on Thursday.
(Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Sergio Non and Chris Reese)
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