HAVANA: Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country’s military preparedness exercises on Saturday as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.
US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba “is ready to fall” and told Havana to “make a deal” or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.
Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.
Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba’s armed forces.
He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.
