SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) 鈥� Cuban President said the U.S. has no valid reason to carry out a military attack against the island or to attempt to depose him.
Speaking in an on NBC 91欧美激情鈥� Meet the Press program, the president said an invasion of Cuba would be costly and affect regional security. But should it happen, D铆az-Canel said, Cubans would defend themselves.
鈥淚f the time comes, I don鈥檛 think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the U.S. to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,鈥� D铆az-Canel said, speaking through a translator.
He added: 鈥淚f that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we鈥檒l die, because as our national anthem says, 鈥楧ying for the homeland is to live’.鈥�
His comments come as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. remain high despite both sides , although no details have been shared.
D铆az-Canel has accused the U.S. government of implementing a 鈥渉ostile policy鈥� against Cuba and said it has 鈥渘o moral to demand anything from Cuba.鈥� He noted that Cuba is interested in engaging in dialogue and discussing any topic without conditions, 鈥渘ot demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts.鈥�
Cuba blames a U.S. energy blockade for its , with a lack of petroleum affecting the island鈥檚 health system, public transportation and the production of goods and services.
Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it consumes, and it stopped receiving key oil shipments from Venezuela after the U.S. military attacked the South American country in early January, seized President Nicol谩s Maduro and took him to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Then, , the Trump administration began implementing a phased plan to end Venezuela鈥檚 entrenched crisis.
The arrival of a Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil marked the island鈥檚 first oil shipment in three months. Russia has promised to send a second tanker.
Despite on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, the Trump administration allowed the tanker to proceed.
鈥淐uba鈥檚 finished,鈥� President Donald Trump said at the time. 鈥淭hey have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it鈥檚 not going to matter.鈥�
D铆az-Canel said his government takes Trump鈥檚 words as a warning.
鈥淵ou hear that Cuba is next, that Cuba is going to be next, that there are, there鈥檚 a way out, that they鈥檙e going to take over Cuba,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o, from the position of responsibility within the leadership of the country, that is a warning. And we need to responsibly protect our people, protect our project and protect our country.鈥�
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