As tensions between the United States and Cuba continue to rise, Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, tells MS NOW that a war between the two countries would provoke a “humanitarian catastrophe” that could lead to the deaths of thousands.
“If Cuba were attacked, it would have to defend itself,” Rodriguez told Antonia Hylton on Wednesday. “It would lead to bloodbath — the death of thousands of Cubans, and also the deaths of young Americans.”
During a sit-down interview with Hylton, conducted in Spanish and translated into English by MS NOW, Rodriguez said the Trump administration’s decision in January to effectively cut off the country’s fuel supply has had “increasingly severe consequences” for the Cuban people, causing blackouts and shortages of food and medical supplies.
“The Cuban people are suffering a kind of collective punishment,” he said. “They are subjected to conditions that violate their human rights and cause pain, suffering, and anguish to Cuban families.”
“The worst part is that these consequences are not some kind of collateral damage, as the U.S. government often claims, but rather the result of a deliberate design to provoke suffering among the Cuban population,” Rodriguez added.
The situation between the two longtime adversaries escalated earlier this month when the U.S. announced that a grand jury had indicted 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro on murder charges related to the 1996 downing of two small planes.
Rodriguez called the charges “politically motivated and illegal,” adding it was “extraordinary that this is happening 30 years after those events,” which he described as “an act of legitimate self-defense by the Cuban state after 25 violations of its airspace.”
“They are doing this to manipulate American public opinion and justify two barbaric and brutal acts: the military threat and the energy blockade against Cuba,” he said.
The foreign minister told Hylton there was “no progress in bilateral talks” between Cuba and the United States.
“There is great inconsistency and irresponsibility on the U.S. side,” he said. “Their conduct during conversations is one thing, but their constant public statements by official figures are hostile.”
Rodriguez singled out Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he said “lies consistently” and “seems very poorly informed.”
Recommended
Last week, on Cuban Independence Day, Rubio released a recorded video message in Spanish directed at the Cuban people. The former Republican senator, who represented Florida, the state with the largest Cuban population in the country, said that Cuba was not suffering because U.S. policy, but because of the actions taken by its own government.
“The secretary of state displays a sick inclination toward provoking a military confrontation between the United States and Cuba,” Rodriguez said Wednesday. “He seeks to blame the Cuban government for the effects caused by the cruel policy of hostility and blockade and the humanitarian damage they cause in Cuba.”
The foreign minister accused Rubio of “listening more to the views of a small but powerful clique anchored in Florida politics that holds a vindictive attitude toward Cuba” than to the American public, whom he argued oppose “collective punishment” for the Cuban people.
“What benefit would a war in Cuba or the collapse of the country bring to American taxpayers or the United States?” he asked. “It would provoke not only a humanitarian catastrophe.”
While Rodriguez said his country would do “everything possible to avoid military escalation,” he vowed it would “defend” its independence.
He also denied reports that Russia and China are running “spy bases” off the coast of Cuba.
“There are no foreign military bases in Cuba, nor foreign military personnel, with the sole exception of the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo — which we consider illegal and imposed against the will of the Cuban people, stemming from a U.S. military occupation of Cuba,” Rodriguez said. “So, I can categorically affirm that there are no foreign military bases, no foreign military personnel in Cuba, nor is any hostile act against the United States conducted from Cuba.”
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”