Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez converses with ABC News’ Whit Johnson.ABC News
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez cautioned that the United States is following a "perilous course" that could give rise to a "bloody outcome in Cuba" in response to President Donald Trump’s ongoing statements about taking control of the nation, and stated there has been "zero advancement" in discussions between the two nations.
In a one-on-one conversation with ABC News’ Whit Johnson in Havana this Thursday, Rodriguez mentioned he regards Trump’s intimidations "with utmost seriousness," and that Cuba will "assert its entitlement to lawful self-preservation" if under military attack.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez speaks with ABC News’ Whit Johnson.ABC News
"It appears that the U.S. governing body has elected a hazardous route, a route that might produce unimaginable repercussions, a human disaster, a mass extermination, the demise of Cuban and young American individuals, it might also provoke a bloodbath within Cuba," Rodriguez conveyed to ABC News in Spanish.
In recent times, Trump has indicated that Cuba’s system of government requires to alter "considerably" and has consistently articulated that the U.S. will be "doing something with Cuba without delay."
Most recently, while addressing an audience in Florida last week, Trump proclaimed that following the operation in Iran, "Cuba will be subsequent," and that the U.S. will be "assuming command over Cuba practically instantly." He further proposed that he could deploy the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to Cuba and halt approximately 100 yards from the coast, prior to voicing his confidence that Cuba would acknowledge, "thank you immensely. We surrender."
Up until now, the administration has fallen back on financial stratagems to put pressure on Cuba, involving a barricade earlier this year terminating Havana’s admittance to foreign oil dispatches, even those stemming from Venezuela.
The week before, the Trump administration implemented fresh penalties aimed at figures in the regime that the White House announced were "implicated in state wrongdoings or profound human rights contraventions, or are representatives, functionaries, or concrete providers of the Cuban government,” according to a fact sheet disseminated by the White House.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez converses with ABC News’ Whit Johnson.ABC News
During the conversation this Thursday, Rodriguez stood firm on Cuba’s self-determination and affirmed that if confronted militarily, "Cuba will wield its entitlement to valid defense to the ultimate ends with extensive, widespread support from the citizenry."
"Cuba does not pose a danger to the U.S., national protection or international strategy or economic system or the American mode of existence," he expressed to ABC News.
In March, Cuban President Miquel Díaz-Canel candidly recognized that his administration had been undertaking clandestine dialogue with the U.S. for several weeks, as Trump magnified his coercion campaign against the regime.
Rodriguez revealed to ABC News this Thursday that there has been no forward motion in the discussions with the U.S. and refuted recent requests from the Trump administration for political and financial alterations.
"I can communicate to you that I detect no advancement," Rodriguez communicated.
He announced that they have been "primed for conversation on a multitude of distinct bilateral matters," but subjects linked to Cuba’s system of government or internal operations are "not open for consideration."
When urged to react to assertions of political abuse, brutality, governmental incompetence and a deficiency of liberties within Cuba, Rodriguez conveyed that he contests them. He indicated that employing these assertions as a justification for setting in motion a military hostility is "outlawed by global legislation."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com