Havana, August 28 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban government today denounced the United States military deployment in the Caribbean Sea, considering it a direct threat to the region, driven by “absurd pretexts” and in clear violation of the spirit of peace promoted by Latin American and Caribbean countries.
The statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), released this Thursday, affirms that the deployment of US forces constitutes “a serious threat and an aggressive show of force” that threatens the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.
It also emphasizes that this action ignores the collective commitment of the 33 member countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to proclaim the region a Zone of Peace.
It affirms that Washington’s accusation of linking the legitimate government of Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro Moros, to illicit drug trafficking networks is baseless and responds to a disinformation strategy.
The statement recalls that not even the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) included the Venezuelan government in its annual report as a facilitator of drug trafficking into US territory.
The statement also points out that these accusations are part of a historical pattern of lies used by the United States to justify military interventions in the region. In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement brings up the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, based on the false claim of the existence of weapons of mass destruction.
That pretext was used to attack and invade a sovereign country, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and the forced displacement of a similar number, the Caribbean country’s Foreign Ministry recalls.
The declaration highlights a revealing fact: according to the 2025 Global Drug Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the United States is the largest drug market in the region and probably in the world. In this regard, the text emphasizes that the largest networks that stimulate consumption, guarantee distribution, facilitate trafficking, and launder the enormous profits from drug trafficking operate within the country itself, with relative impunity and without any effective government effort to stop them.
The declaration states that the large sums generated in this illegal market encourage the creation and expansion of criminal networks in Latin America and the Caribbean. It also criticizes the “vigorous US arms industry” and its lax regulations on sales, which fuel the lethal power of criminal groups in the region.
Likewise, the Cuban Foreign Ministry rejects the use of irregular migratory flows as a justification for militarizing the Caribbean Sea. At the same time, it firmly questions whether the deployment of nuclear submarines, warships, and disproportionate military potential in a historically peaceful area is an adequate or legitimate response to addressing organized crime, drug trafficking, or migration.
“Who with a modicum of common sense and honesty can believe that this massive military deployment truly seeks to combat these phenomena?” the document asks, describing the operation as yet another example of the renewed application of the Monroe Doctrine, a historic tool of US interventionism in the Americas.
Cuba reiterates its commitment to the effective and transparent fight against drug trafficking, the defense of national sovereignty, and the promotion of regional peace. And, in line with what President Miguel Díaz-Canel expressed during the 13th Extraordinary Summit of ALBA-TCP on August 20, it calls on the countries of the region to “firmly denounce the new displays of imperialist force” that threaten the stability of the Caribbean and Latin America.
(Taken from PL)
