Our country has always been willing to mobilize as a nation in the face of military aggression. Cuba's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, stated this Sunday that the country's armed forces are preparing for a possible military aggression from the United States. "Our armed forces are always ready, and in fact, these days they are preparing for the possibility of a military aggression," the politician said in an interview with NBC News' 'Meet the Press.' "We are open to doing business and maintaining a respectful relationship that I am sure the majority of Americans would support," he indicated. "We do not think it is likely, but it would be naive of us not to prepare," he added. The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the country sees "no justification" for a military action to take place in Cuba, because the specific country does not represent "any threat" to the United States. Tensions between the U.S. and Cuba intensified after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last January. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, son of Cuban immigrants, then warned that Cuba could be the next country to face a U.S. military intervention. "If I lived in Havana and were part of the government, I would be worried," Rubio declared at the time. This week, Trump assured that it would be an "honor to take" the country and be able to do whatever he wanted with the island. Meanwhile, the oil blockade has pushed the country's chronic blackouts to record levels and has almost completely paralyzed the state sector, from hospitals and public transport to factories and public offices. In January, Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, in an attempt to exacerbate the crisis on the island, which had already been aggravated by the halt in crude shipments from Venezuela after Maduro's ousting. "We hope this boycott will not last and will not be maintained forever," Fernández de Cossío highlighted in the interview with NBC News. The politician also reiterated that Cuba "has no conflict" with the U.S.: "We have the need and the right to protect ourselves, but we are willing to sit down and talk." "The truth is that we always see it as something very distant." "It is a very serious situation, and we are acting in the most proactive way possible to face the circumstances.
