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 Cossio said Sunday.
"Our military is always prepared, and in fact it is preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression," Fernández de Cossio 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?"
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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."
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But Fernández de Cossio said Cuba is "absolutely" opposed to regime change, signaling defiance of Trump and Rubio's public statements and setting the stage for potential military action down the road.
"Our country has historically been ready to mobilize, as a nation as a whole, for military aggression," he told NBC's Kristen Welker. "We truly always see it as something far from us. We don't believe it is something that is probable. But we would be naive if we do not prepare. That's what I can tell you."
Asked whether Cuba was bracing for the United States "to take it in some form," Fernández de Cossio answered: "Truly, we don't know what they're talking about."
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"But I can tell you this: Cuba is a sovereign country and has the right to be a sovereign country and has the right to self-determination," he added. "Cuba would not accept to become a vassal state or a dependent state from any other country or any other superpower."
Fernández de Cossio said Cuba was prepared to negotiate with Rubio despite the secretary of state's long-standing criticism of the Cuban government.
"We are ready to negotiate with the person that the U.S. government, as a sovereign nation, designates as their spokesperson, as their lead negotiator, and we're ready to negotiate with whoever is designated by the U.S. government," he said. "They're a sovereign nation. We don't interfere with that."
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Throughout the interview, the Cuban diplomat cast Havana's position as defensive, saying Cuba "has no quarrel with the United States" and wants "a respectful relationship," while blaming the island's worsening energy and economic crisis on U.S. pressure, including efforts to choke off fuel supplies. Recent reporting has documented Cuba's deepening blackout crisis and the Trump administration's increased efforts to isolate the government economically.
"What does 'on its own' mean when it's being forced by the United States?" Fernández de Cossio said when asked about Trump's claim that Cuba could collapse on its own. "It's a very bizarre statement."
His closing message to Trump was conciliatory, even as he warned that Cuba was preparing for the worst.
"Cuba has no quarrel with the United States," Fernández de Cossio said. "We do have the need and the right to protect ourself.Â
"But we are willing to sit down, we're open for business, and we're all being open to having a respectful relationship that I'm sure the majority of Americans would support, and I'm sure the president of the United States would support, if we could sit down and talk meaningfully about it."
