Cuba is preparing for possible U.S. aggression even as Trump administration officials have recently signaled they are not planning an invasion, Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said Sunday.
"Our military is always prepared, and in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression," Fernández de Cossío told NBC News’ "Meet the Press" in an interview that aired Sunday.
"We would be naive if, looking at what’s happening around the world, we would not do that."
"But we truly hope that it doesn’t occur. We don’t see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever — why would the government of the United States force its country to take military action against a neighboring country like Cuba?"
The Cuban official’s remarks come just days after President Donald Trump said it would be "a big honor" to be the president that has the "honor of taking Cuba."
"Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba – I mean, whether I free it, take it: I think I can do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth," Trump said, despite the fact Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed diplomacy with the failing regime over any talk of an invasion as Trump's statement might suggest.
"They’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it," Rubio said this week. "So they have to get new people in charge."
