The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, questioned this Saturday the use of the fight against drug trafficking as a justification for the military deployment that the United States has maintained in the Caribbean since August, directed against Venezuela.
In statements broadcast on social networks, the chancellor affirmed that the fight against criminal networks is “legitimate and necessary,” but rejected that this argument is used “to attack a sovereign nation in the region.”
It is necessary to remind US politicians that Latin America and the Caribbean are not the “backyard” of #USA.
Well-known truths must also be remembered. It is the immense and growing consumption of various drugs in that country that boosts the trade and… pic.twitter.com/5G657ijvB3
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) November 22, 2025
As reported by the EFE agency, Washington has publicly linked the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, with the so-called Cartel of the Suns and maintains that the naval and air presence in the Caribbean responds to the need to stop illicit activities.
Rodríguez returned criticism to the United States by pointing out that “huge financial assets” linked to drug trafficking are laundered in that country and that the US arms industry fuels the violence associated with these organizations. He also recalled that the high domestic consumption of drugs in the US “invigorates” production and trafficking in the region.
The head of Cuban diplomacy also reiterated that Latin America and the Caribbean “are not the backyard” of Washington, and warned about the risks of using “pretexts” to escalate tensions with Venezuela, a historical ally of Havana.
In a recent comment published in the magazine Foreign Policyanalysts William M. Leo Grande and Peter Kornbluh They consider that military deployment may have strategic implications that go beyond Venezuela.
According to his allegations, Washington would be taking advantage of the context of tensions to reinforce its presence in the area and increase pressure on governments that it identifies as adversaries, including Cuba, at a time of high economic and energy fragility for the island.
“With the military deployment against Venezuela, the US also sets its sights on Cuba,” analysts warn
The experts also pointed out that an eventual reduction in the supply of Venezuelan oil—on which Cuba continues to depend in part—could aggravate the already complex internal situation in Havana. In this context, they interpret the deployment as part of a broader approach of political and military containment that seeks to reconfigure US influence in Latin America, reviving historical dynamics of confrontation and geopolitical dispute in the region.
EFE/OnCuba
