Bruno Rodríguez insists: "Cuba has the right to its legitimate defense against any external aggression."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla published a new message on X this Monday, reaffirming that Cuba has "the right to its legitimate defense against any external aggression," citing the UN Charter and International Law, amid a rhetorical escalation from the regime following the report by Axios on Cuban military drones.

It is the second public statement by the chancellor in less than 24 hours on the same topic. On Sunday, Rodríguez had already accused Washington of creating "a fraudulent file to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and the eventual military aggression," also without mentioning the report on drones at any point.

In his post this Monday, Rodríguez accused those who "attempt to illegitimately assault Cuba" of using "any pretext, no matter how false and absurd, to justify an attack against the opinion of the U.S. and world public."

The chancellor also lashed out at the press: "It is unfortunate that media outlets continue to be complicit in such a crime."

The catalyst for the entire escalation was the report published on Sunday by Axios, based on classified U.S. intelligence, which stated that Cuba has acquired more than 300 attack military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023, stored in strategic locations on the island. According to this intelligence, Cuban officials had discussed the potential use of these drones against the Guantanamo Naval Base, U.S. military vessels, and areas near Key West, Florida.

The most significant aspect of the official Cuban response is that no institution—neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nor the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces, nor Rodríguez himself—has explicitly denied the existence of the drones or refuted the alleged plans. All have chosen to invoke the principle of legitimate defense.

The deputy minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío reacted in a similar tone this Sunday, by publishing that “the U.S. is the aggressor nation. Cuba, the nation that is being attacked, is justified in defending itself”, without denying the existence of the drones.

Miguel Díaz-Canel himself warned this Monday that, if an aggression were to occur, “it will lead to a bloodbath with incalculable consequences”, while asserting that “Cuba does not pose a threat, nor has any aggressive plans or intentions against any country.”

The Foreign Ministry launched the hashtag #TheHomelandIsDefended and the Ministry of the Armed Forces fully reproduced Fernández de Cossío's message, in a new demonstration of the regime's coordinated discourse in response to the controversy sparked by the report on military drones.