The commander of US Southern Command met with senior Cuban military officials on Friday in a rare meeting on the perimeter of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, a US military set up positioned in Cuba’s southeast.
SOUTHCOM said that Commander Gen. Francis Donovan met with Cuban Army Corps Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo – Cuba’s first deputy minister of the chief of the final workers – and different senior leaders from the Cuban military “for a brief exchange on operational security matters.”
The meeting comes amid a US military buildup near Cuba, with the USS Nimitz service strike group arriving within the Caribbean final week. Donovan additionally met with the Cuban military officials simply days after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned {that a} US military assault on the island “will cause a bloodbath with incalculable consequences.”
It’s at least the second high-level meeting between senior US and Cuban officials in latest weeks. CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana in early May for a rare meeting with officials from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior and heads of the island’s intelligence companies.
SOUTHCOM stated Donavan “led a perimeter security assessment” of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay “and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials.”
The US has accused Cuban officials of internet hosting Russian and Chinese listening posts on the island and thwarting US pursuits within the area, NCS reported, and has been making use of rising authorized and financial stress on the Cuban authorities in latest weeks. That’s along with a punishing oil blockade imposed by the US in January, which has plunged the island into financial disaster and led to energy cuts, meals and gasoline shortages.
The Justice Department indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro earlier this month and the administration introduced new sanctions on the Cuban authorities, together with its important intelligence company and inside ministry. Secretary of State Marco Rubio beforehand stated that “additional sanctions actions can be expected in the following days and weeks.”