STATEMENT: Cuba Denounces U.S. Military Presence in the Caribbean

Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, denounced the exaggerated and aggressive U.S. military presence in the Caribbean Sea, which he considered a threat against Latin America and the entire region.

The head of Cuban diplomacy stated that the concentration of U.S. naval assets constitutes a violation of International Law and the United Nations Charter.

According to the Chancellor, the military escalation responds to a warlike objective directed against the government of Venezuela, with the risk of provoking an armed conflict of unpredictable consequences.

Rodríguez Parrilla affirmed that the pretext of combating illegal drug trafficking is unsustainable, as the deployment of high-firepower naval forces does not correspond with the fight against criminal organizations.

The minister warned that an aggression of that magnitude could cause an incalculable number of deaths and generate violence and instability in the hemisphere. He appealed to common sense, solidarity, the spirit of peace, and the ethics of the international community, and to the American people, to stop it.

Due to its importance, the Cuban News Agency reproduces the statement in its entirety, published this Tuesday on the official site of Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cubaminrex.

Declaration by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, on the U.S. presence in the Caribbean and its threat to the region.

• The exaggerated and aggressive military presence of the U.S. in the region constitutes a threat against Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole.

• Driven by the Secretary of State, the primary and immediate target is the violent overthrow of the government of Venezuela through the use of U.S. military force, a highly dangerous and irresponsible action with unpredictable and incalculable consequences.

• Given the manifest degree of threat, this constitutes a violation of International Law and the United Nations Charter.

• With a military escalation, an international crime of the first order could be committed.

• This aggression responds to a warlike objective that is not shared by the majority of the American people.

• The pretext of combating illegal drug trafficking is an unsustainable lie.

• Such a concentration of large and sophisticated naval assets, with such volume and destructive firepower, is not deployed to combat criminal organizations.

• The U.S. government could cause an incalculable number of deaths and create a scenario of violence and instability in the hemisphere that would be unimaginable.

• Cuba denounces this military escalation in the strongest possible terms and reaffirms its full support for Venezuela.

• We appeal to common sense, solidarity, the spirit of peace, and the ethics of the international community.

• We appeal to the people of the United States to stop this madness.