Declaration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly rejects the arrival of a nuclear-powered submarine in the Guantanamo Bay on July 5, 2023, that stayed until July 8 at the US military base located there, which is a provocative escalation of the United States, whose political or strategic motives are not known.
The US military base, as is known, has occupied that 117 square kilometers territory for 121 years against the will of the Cuban people. It stands as a colonial remnant of the illegitimate military occupation of our country that started in 1898, after the expansionist intervention during the independence war waged by Cubans against the Spanish colonial power.
This is an enclave that has long lost its strategic or military importance for the United States. Its permanence only pursues the political objective of trying to outrage Cuba’s sovereign rights. Its practical usefulness in recent decades has been limited to operating as a center of detention, torture and systematic violation of the human rights of dozens of citizens from several countries.
The presence of a nuclear submarine there at this moment makes it imperative to wonder what is the military reason behind this action in this peaceful region of the world; what target is it aiming at and what is the strategic purpose it pursues.
It should be remembered that the 33 nations of the region are signatories of the Declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed in Havana in January of 2014.
It is also important to take into account the fact that, as a threat to the sovereignty and the interests of Latin American and Caribbean peoples, the United States has established more than 70 military bases in the region with different times of permanence, plus other operational forms of military presence. Recently, its high military commands have publicly announced their intention to use their war capabilities to realize the US ambitions over the natural resources of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while reiterating the rejection of the US military presence in Cuba and demanding the return of the illegally occupied territory in the province of Guantanamo, warns about the danger of the presence and circulation of nuclear submarines of the United States armed forces in the nearby Caribbean region.
Havana, July 11, 2023.
(Cubaminrex)