Cuban president says US seeking pretext for military intervention

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the US is seeking a pretext to launch a military intervention against his country, speaking at an international solidarity event in Havana.

Addressing a gathering marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fidel Castro, Diaz-Canel criticized US policies and rejected Washington’s characterization of Cuba as a threat.

“The US does not define us as an ‘extraordinary and unusual’ threat for itself. We are convinced this is not the sentiment of the American people, but a pretext used by the US government to attack us.

“One asks: What is the threat? What is extraordinary about this threat? I ask myself this question every day. There is no pretext, no reason to justify a military attack against Cuba,” he said.

Diaz-Canel described the US government as “fascist,” linking its policies to global conflicts.

“This is why acts of genocide occur in the world, like the genocide against the Palestinian people, like the genocide against the people of Lebanon. This is why aggression and the language of war are used to resolve international conflicts,” he said.

Referring to what he described as a US military intervention against Venezuela on Jan. 3, Diaz-Canel accused Washington of seeking global dominance and targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro through a “narco-state” narrative.

“They tried to politically and media-wise lynch the legitimate president of the Bolivarian Revolution, Nicolas Maduro. Then they imposed a naval blockade on Venezuela and forced the largest US military presence in the Caribbean in the last 20 years,” he said.

‘We do not want war’

Diaz-Canel also said the Iranian people had resisted US “aggression,” stressing that Iran neither possesses nuclear weapons nor has threatened to use them.

He dismissed US statements expressing concern over hardships faced by Cubans as “irony” and “nonsense.”

“If they are so concerned, then let them lift the blockade. Because the fundamental problems of the Cuban people stem from the long-standing continuation of this blockade,” he said.

Diaz-Canel added that Cuban soldiers resisted US special forces during the Venezuela operation, saying an attack planned to last five minutes extended beyond 45 minutes despite US numerical and technological superiority.

Warning of serious consequences in the event of US military intervention, he said: “We do not want war. We have always said that differences with the US government can be resolved through dialogue, but there must be intention and seriousness to find areas of cooperation that will bring agreement and keep us away from conflict.”

*Writing by Gizem Nisa Demir in Istanbul