In recent days, the U.S. Navy stationed an aircraft carrier off the coast of Cuba, the White House expanded sanctions on Havana’s leaders and federal prosecutorschargedformer Cuban President Raúl Castro with murder.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters, said what to many is becoming obvious: that the likelihood of a “negotiated and peaceful agreement” with Cuba’s communist government is “not high.”
Months into a punishing oil blockade that has triggeredwidespread blackoutson the island, the Trump administration has ratcheted up its pressure campaign against Havana even further, raising questions about whether Cuba will be the next U.S. target after Venezuela and Iran. The U.S.overthrewVenezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and a month laterkilledIran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Read more:As U.S. threatens, Cubans look ahead, with hope and trepidation
Officials in Cuba, who slammed the indictment against Castro as “a political action” to build the case for an invasion, say they are preparing for war.
Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, said that while the country hopes to avert conflict, it is hardening its defenses.
“We would be naive” not to, he said.
For weeks, Cuba has been circulating a pamphlet among its citizens — a “Family Guide for Protection Against Military Aggression” — that says the U.S. “threatens to launch a military assault and destroy our society with the aim of perpetuating capitalism ... and annihilating the dream of our Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro.”
The document instructs families to pack survival kits, seek shelter if they hear air raid sirens and shares first aid instructions for things such as tying a tourniquet. “Should the enemy attack,” it reads, “our Revolution will defend itself until victory is achieved and the aggressor is expelled.”
Cubans are watching the developments anxiously, but are focused on the daily business of survival.
Source: Drudge Report
