Cuba and US trade warnings amid alleged drone threat and new sanctions

Cuban Leader Warns Of Potential 'Bloodbath' If US Takes Military Action Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Cuba’s leader on Monday warned that any U.S. military action against the communist-controlled island nation would cause a “bloodbath” and lead to regional insecurity. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel delivers a speech during a plenary session of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk, Belarus June 26, 2025. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS “If it were to materialize, it would trigger a bloodbath with incalculable consequences, plus the destructive impact on regional peace and stability,” Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a May 18 post on X, according to a translation. [ZH: We're sure Palantir and Anthropic calculated it in roughly 8 seconds...] He also insisted that Cuba doesn’t pose any threat and doesn’t have “aggressive plans or intentions against any country,” but said that it has the “legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught.” In recent months, the United States has imposed significant pressure on the country’s communist regime, blocking oil shipments from Venezuela following the U.S. military capture of then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January. The Trump administration is pressing Cuba’s leadership to end political repression, release political prisoners, and liberalize its ailing economy. That prompted Cuban Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy to announce on May 13 that the country had completely run out of diesel and heavy fuel oil, with its power grid entering a critical state. O Levy said Cuba had not received any oil imports since December 2025 until Russia sent about 700,000 barrels of crude oil last month. A Cuban official on Sunday accused the U.S. government of creating a fabrication following an Axios report, citing what it said was classified intelligence that claimed Cuba has acquired hundreds of drones. In a post on social media, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote that “Cuba neither threatens nor desires war” and that the country “prepares itself to confront external aggression in the exercise ​of the right to legitimate self-defense recognized by the UN Charter.” In a May 18 emailed statement to The Epoch Times, a State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration will move “to protect Americans, our interests and our homeland from any threat.” “President Trump ... has taken historic action to rid our backyard of uncontrolled migration, dangerous narco trafficking, organized crime, and hostile foreign military presence,” the department spokesperson added. President Donald Trump has said that after the war with Iran, he will turn his attention to Cuba. He pledged “a new dawn for Cuba” during a speech at a Turning Point USA event in April. During comments to reporters on May 15 aboard Air Force One, the U.S. president said that Cuba’s leadership “needs help, as you know, and you talk about a declining country—they are really a nation or a country in decline.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe and other U.S. officials visited Cuba on May 14, at the invitation of the country’s communist regime, officials said. An official statement from Cuba’s regime noted that the meeting “took place ... against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.” Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the United States would provide Cuba with $100 million in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet services “if the Cuban regime will permit it.” “The regime refuses to allow the United States to provide this assistance to the Cuban people, who are in desperate need of assistance due to the failures of Cuba’s corrupt regime,” the department said on May 13. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Tyler Durden Tue, 05/19/2026 - 21:45

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba's leader warned Monday of a "bloodbath" in the event of an American attack, and the United States (US) Treasury issued sanctions targeting Cuba's main intelligence agency and top leaders as tensions spiked between the longtime rivals. President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed the island's right to defend itself a day after US news site Axios reported that Havana had obtained over 300 military drones from Russia and Iran and is mulling using them against a US base at Guantanamo Bay in eastern Cuba, among other targets. The report, which quoted US intelligence officials, came amid growing speculation that the United States is weighing military action to topple Cuba's communist government. It said that US military vessels and possibly even Florida could be targeted in Cuban drone strikes, which an unnamed US official presented as proof of the "growing threat" posed by Cuba to the United States. Writing on X, Diaz-Canel repeated that Cuba "poses no threat" to the United States or any other country and warned that a US attack would "trigger a bloodbath with incalculable consequences". He did not directly address the alleged stockpiling of drones but said Cuba had "the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught". "Yet that cannot be wielded, logically or honestly, as an excuse for imposing war on the noble Cuban people," he wrote. Washington on Monday ramped up pressure on the Caribbean island nation by announcing sanctions on its intelligence agency and nine Cuban nationals, including the country's ministers for communications, energy and justice. Several top Communist Party officials and at least three generals were also among those sanctioned, according to a statement from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. The United States has heaped pressure on Cuba since January, with President Donald Trump musing about overthrowing the country's leadership, as US forces did in Venezuela that month. Washington cut off one of Cuba's last economic lifelines by halting oil shipments from Venezuela, its main fuel supplier, and threatening tariffs on any other country that attempted to make up the shortfall. Trump's oil blockade has exacerbated a severe humanitarian and energy crisis in Cuba, marked by ever more frequent blackouts. The Cuban Government has accused Washington of trying to create a pretext for a military intervention against its arch foe after first trying to "strangle" Cuba's economy with a crippling fuel blockade. The Axios report came days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana for negotiations. It also comes amid US media reports that the Trump administration is seeking to indict Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, as part of its pressure campaign. Havana says the oil blockade has caused the country to run out of diesel and fuel oil needed to power the generators that supplement the electricity production of its dilapidated power plants. On Monday, the island received a new shipment of humanitarian aid from Mexico — its fifth from Mexico's left-wing government since February. Unlike the previous shipments, which were carried by the Mexican navy, Monday's aid consignment was transported by a merchant ship, sailing under a Panamanian flag, AFP journalists observed. The vessel is carrying 1,700 tons of aid. Cuba's minister for the food industry, Alberto Lopez, said that it included powdered milk and beans for children and the elderly.

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba's president said Monday his country had a legitimate right to respond to a potential United States (US) attack following US claims that the island is considering staging drone attacks on US targets. US news site Axios on Sunday quoted US intelligence sources as claiming that Cuba had obtained more than 300 military drones with a view to possibly attacking the US base at Guantanamo Bay, US military vessels and possibly even Florida. Axios quoted unnamed US officials as saying that Cuba's acquisition of attack drones from Russia and Iran was proof of the "growing threat" that the Caribbean island nation poses to the United States. Writing on X, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel did not directly address the accusation in the Axios report. But he said Cuba had "the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught". "Yet that cannot be wielded, logically or honestly, as an excuse for imposing war on the noble Cuban people," he wrote. The Cuban Government has accused Washington of trying to create a pretext for a military intervention against its arch-foe after first trying to "strangle" Cuba's economy with a crippling fuel blockade. Diaz-Canel said a US attack would "trigger a bloodbath with incalculable consequences" and repeated that Cuba "poses no threat" to the United States or any other country. Trump — who since the start of the year has deposed Venezuela's leftist leader and gone to war against Iran — has suggested that Cuba could be next in his sights and mused about "taking over" over the island situated 145 kilometres (90 miles) from Florida. He cut off one of Cuba's last economic lifelines in January by halting oil shipments from Venezuela, its main fuel supplier and threatening tariffs on any other country that attempted to make up the shortfall. The Axios report of the alleged Cuban drone threat came days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana for negotiations. It also comes amid US media reports that the Trump administration is also seeking to indict Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of the late Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro, as part of its pressure campaign. Trump's oil blockade has exacerbated a severe humanitarian and energy crisis in Cuba, marked by ever more frequent blackouts. The Government says it has run out of diesel and fuel oil needed to power the generators that supplement the electricity production of its dilapidated power plants. On Monday, the island received a new shipment of humanitarian aid from Mexico — its fifth from Mexico's left-wing government since February. Unlike the previous shipments, which were carried by the Mexican navy, Monday's aid consignment was transported by a merchant ship, sailing under a Panamanian flag, AFP journalists observed.

WASHINGTON, United States(AFP)—Cuba has obtained more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the US base at Guantanamo Bay, US military vessels and possibly even Florida, Axios reported Sunday, citing classified intelligence. The report comes as tensions simmer between Washington and Havana and amid speculation that the United States may be building an argument for military action against the communist-run island. The development underscores the Trump administration's concern with the threat from Cuba because of developments in drone warfare and the presence of Iranian military advisers in Havana, Axios cited a senior US official as saying. "When we think about those types of technologies being that close, and a range of bad actors from terror groups to drug cartels to Iranians to the Russians, it's concerning," the unnamed official was quoted as saying. "It's a growing threat." Cuba has been acquiring attack drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and is seeking to buy more, US officials told Axios. Havana slammed the report, casting the United States as the aggressor and Cuba as the victim. "The anti-Cuban campaign aimed at justifying, without any excuse, a military attack against Cuba is intensifying by the hour, with increasingly implausible accusations," Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio said on X. "The United States is the aggressor. Cuba is the country under attack, acting in self-defense." The report comes days after CIA Director John Radcliffe visited Havana, where Cubans have been enduring constant power outages prompted by President Donald Trump's fuel blockade. According to Axios, Radcliff warned officials in Havana against engaging in hostilities. "Director Ratcliffe made clear that Cuba can no longer serve as a platform for adversaries to advance hostile agendas in our hemisphere," Axios quoted an unnamed CIA official as saying. The communist island has been in a standoff with successive US administrations since the 1960s, and the southern state of Florida hosts a large, politically influential Cuban exile community. Earlier this month Trump said the United States would be "taking over" the Caribbean island, only around 90 miles (145 km) from Florida, "almost immediately." He has also said, following the US military operation to depose Venezuela's longtime leader Nicolas Maduro, that Cuba will be next. US media also reported that US authorities are seeking to indict Raul Castro, the 94-year-old brother of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.