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The United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, issued a direct warning to the Cuban government from Guantanamo Naval Base: if Cuba tries to acquire weapons capable of reaching the U.S. border or the naval base itself, it will "find out very quickly" the consequences.
Hegseth pronounced the words while physically pointing towards Cuban territory from the perimeter fence of the facility, during a supervisory visit of military operations in the region.
As an example of what it means to "find out" about those consequences, the secretary cited the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, whom he described as someone who has already "figured it out" by "playing games" with the United States government.
The reference to Maduro alludes to the events of September 2025, when Washington deployed the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean to conduct pressure operations against Venezuela, with Hegseth on board the ship.
During his visit to Guantánamo, Hegseth also conveyed to the troops that "the future of Cuba" depends on the President of the United States and Cuban leadership, and that the Department of Defense would be "prepared and positioned" for any contingency.
The statements come weeks after an exclusive Axios report revealed that U.S. intelligence had detected the acquisition by Cuba of over 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023.
According to that report, Cuban officials allegedly discussed the possible use of those drones against the Naval Base in Guantánamo itself, U.S. military ships in the Caribbean, and even Key West, Florida.
Washington officials clarified, however, that they do not consider Cuba an imminent threat nor believe it is actively planning an attack.
From Havana, the official Carlos Fernández de Cossío did not directly deny the purchase of drones and merely emphasized that "Cuba has the right to defend itself".
Hegseth's visit to Guantánamo is part of a broader strategy to exert pressure on the Cuban regime: in January of this year, Trump signed a decree to impose tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, and Southern Command had been working on contingency plans that range from airstrikes to a possible ground invasion, with no final decision made yet.
The U.S. also deployed two amphibious assault ships north of Cuba amidst this year's tensions, and the head of Southern Command met with Hegseth on May 21 during the escalation.
The Guantanamo Naval Base has been a U.S. enclave on Cuban territory since 1903 and has been a constant source of bilateral tension, with the Missile Crisis of 1962 being the most severe precedent of confrontation over armament on the island.
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