HAVANA, Cuba: Cuba held a meeting of a key national defence committee to assess its readiness for war, state-run media said Sunday as tensions run high with the United States after the ouster of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
President Donald Trump has been ramping up pressure on Cuba after US special forces seized Havana’s ally Maduro and his wife on January 3.
The National Defence Committee is supposed to take control of Cuba in case of war or a natural disaster.
It met Saturday “to increase and perfect the level of preparation and cohesion of the leadership and personnel organs,” said a statement published in state media.
The goal of the meeting was “to analyse and approve plans and measures for shifting to a state of war” in the event of conflict with another country, the statement added without giving details.
It was the first time the committee, led by President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has met since the US attack on Venezuela.
Among the dozens killed in the raid were 32 Cuban soldiers, some of them assigned to Maduro’s security detail.
Diaz-Canel last week reacted defiantly to Trump’s threat to Cuba to “make a deal” or pay the price in the aftermath of Maduro’s ouster.
Diaz-Miguel denied Trump’s assertion that the two countries were holding talks.
Trump has vowed to cut off all oil and money Venezuela had been providing to Cuba’s economy.
