HAVANA: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country’s military preparedness exercises on Saturday as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.
US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.
Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.
Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba’s armed forces.
He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.
“The best way to prevent aggression is for imperialism to have to calculate the price of attacking our country,” Diaz-Canel said in remarks broadcast on Cuban television.
“And that has a lot to do with our preparation for this type of military action... This takes on significant importance in the current circumstances,” he added.
Cuba’s National Defense Council, which is led by Diaz-Canel, recently met “with the objective of increasing and improving the level of preparedness and cohesion” among the country’s leadership, according to an official government statement.
The council met to “analyze and approve the plans and measures for transitioning to a State of War,” the statement added, without providing further details.
These military exercises are part of the country’s preparation “under the strategic concept of the War of the Entire People,” a term used by authorities for the mobilization of civilians in the event of armed conflict.
Cuba defends military drills as deterrent against US aggression
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Cuba defends military drills as deterrent against US aggression
- US President Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela
Drone strikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region kill one, injure another
- The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta
- The Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence
ADDIS ABABA: One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces.
Ethiopia’s national army fought fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for two years until late 2022, in a war researchers say killed hundreds of thousands through direct violence, the collapse of health care and famine.
Fighting broke out between regional and national forces in the disputed territory of western Tigray earlier this week, according to diplomatic and government sources.
The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta, two places in Tigray about 20 kilometers apart. A humanitarian worker confirmed the strikes had happened. Both asked not to be named.
The Tigrayan official said the Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence.
A spokesperson for the ENDF did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear what the trucks were carrying.
TPLF-affiliated news outlet Dimtsi Weyane posted pictures on Facebook which it said showed the trucks damaged in the strikes. It said the trucks were transporting food and cooking items.
Pro-government activists posting on social media said the trucks were carrying weapons.
Earlier this week national carrier Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights to Tigray, where residents rushed to try to withdraw cash from banks.
The Tigray war ended with a peace pact in November 2022, but disagreements have continued over a range of issues, including contested territories in western Tigray and the delayed disarmament of Tigray forces.
