Hegseth warns Cuba: arms would 'invite confrontation'
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- Hegseth warned Cuba at Guantanamo Bay that acquiring weapons capable of reaching the base or the US homeland would 'invite confrontation not only do they not want but they could not stand,' following a May Axios report that Cuba obtained 300+ military drones potentially usable against US forces.
- Cuba has denied being a US threat and accused Washington of 'fabricating pretexts' and 'creating and spreading falsehoods' to justify 'potential aggression.'
- Trump has imposed a de facto energy blockade on Cuba through tariffs on countries supplying the island with oil, causing fuel shortages, energy blackouts, and scarcities of basic supplies.
- Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said 'children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines,' slamming the US restrictions as having an outsized impact on Cuba's most vulnerable.
- The US has expanded its Caribbean military presence, deploying the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier to the region in May, and has repeatedly labeled Cuba an 'unusual and extraordinary threat' to its national security.
- Hegseth also held out a diplomatic opening, saying the US could 'soon be a friend' of Cuba's leadership, but stated the 'Department of War will give the commander-in-chief every single option he needs' and did not rule out military action.
Why it matters: The US is squeezing Cuba from multiple directions at once — a tariff-backed energy blockade already causing humanitarian harm, an expanded Caribbean military posture, and public threats of confrontation — while dangling a normalization offer that appears contingent on regime change in Havana.
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