Cuba warns US: Military action would cause bloodshed

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said today that any US military action against Cuba would lead to "bloodshed" with incalculable consequences for regional peace and stability.

"Cuba does not pose a threat," Diaz-Canel wrote in a post on the X platform.

His comments followed a report by Axios, published on Sunday, in which the portal, citing confidential intelligence, said that Cuba had acquired more than 300 military drones and had discussed plans to use them to attack the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, US military ships and Key West, Florida.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, in a separate statement, said that Cuba, "like every country in the world," has the right to legitimate self-defense against external aggression under the UN Charter and international law. He also said that those who want to attack Cuba are using false pretexts to justify their actions.

Cuba, a communist adversary of Washington for generations, has been under increasing pressure since the United States cut off its energy supplies after arresting the president of its then-ally Venezuela in January. Fuel has run out in recent weeks, and electricity is often available for only an hour or two a day.

Tensions between the two countries have risen sharply in recent days. Reuters reported last week, citing sources at the US Justice Department, that prosecutors plan to indict former Cuban leader Raul Castro over the 1996 Cuban downing of two planes flown by the humanitarian group Rescue Brothers.

Such an indictment against Castro, who is 94, would mark a major escalation of pressure on Cuba by the Trump administration, whose government it has described as corrupt and incompetent, as it seeks to encourage change on the island.