Cuba Official Calls US Military Action 'Atrocious Crime' — SkimNews
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- Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's deputy foreign minister, told C-SPAN's Washington Journal that any US military strike against Cuba would be an 'atrocious international crime' against a 'peaceful neighbouring country.'
- Trump declared during his Tuesday UNGA speech that 'freedom will be coming' to Cuba, prompting the Cuban delegation to walk out of the assembly hall.
- Trump told reporters on Saturday that military force likely won't be needed because 'Cuba is failing very badly,' while stopping short of ruling out action.
- Fernandez de Cossio characterized US sanctions—disrupting commercial shipments, depriving the population of healthcare and fuel—as 'equivalent to a genocide,' now in their ninth month of intensified pressure.
- The Trump administration earlier this year enforced an additional oil and fuel blockade against the island, causing widespread fuel scarcity and rolling power outages across Cuba's population of more than 10 million.
- Fernandez de Cossio said Havana must ready citizens for potential US military aggression and will exercise its right to self-defence 'even if we have to do it alone,' while noting diplomatic channels remain open but have yielded minimal results.
- Several countries condemned the US's continued sanctions and blockade of Cuba during this week's UN General Assembly debate.
Why it matters: Cuba's top diplomat has now framed US policy in the strongest terms possible ('genocide,' 'atrocious international crime') at the exact moment the Trump administration has floated military action while maintaining an oil blockade already causing fuel scarcity and rolling blackouts for 10 million Cubans—and drawn multilateral condemnation at the UNGA.
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