Cuba denies existence of Chinese military base on the island

The Cuban Foreign Ministry on Thursday described as "totally mendacious and unfounded information" the publication by the U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal on an alleged agreement with China, in military matters, for the installation of a spy base.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío stressed in a press release that these are fallacies promoted with the perfidious intention of justifying the unprecedented intensification of Washington's economic blockade against the Caribbean nation and the destabilization campaigns.

"It is about deceiving the public opinion of the United States and the world", the diplomat remarked, adding that they are slanders frequently fabricated by US officials, "apparently familiar with intelligence information".

Fernández de Cossío gave as an example those referring to the alleged acoustic attacks against U.S. diplomatic personnel in Havana, the falsehood about a non-existent Cuban military presence in Venezuela and the lie about the imaginary existence of biological weapons laboratories.

"Regardless of Cuba's sovereign rights in defense matters, our country is a signatory of the Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed in Havana in January 2014. By virtue of it, we reject any foreign military presence in Latin America and the Caribbean," he emphasized.

The deputy foreign minister added that in accordance with these principles, the island also repudiates the numerous U.S. military bases and troops in the region, especially the one currently illegally occupying a portion of Cuban territory in the province of Guantanamo.

"The hostility of the United States against Cuba and the extreme and cruel measures that cause humanitarian damage and punish the Cuban people cannot be justified in any way," the diplomat remarked.