Echoes of the Cold War and the 1962 missile crisis resound again in Cuba and the United States. The reason this time is the presence of a US nuclear submarine in front of the Guantánamo military base between July 5 and 8. Havana denounced the docking of the submersible on Tuesday and described it as a "provocation." Washington said it was a technical stoppage.
The news came from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Minrex. Its owner, Bruno Rodríguez, summarized the complaint in a tweet where he described the fact as a "provocative escalation by the United States."
A Pentagon official quoted by the AP agency explained that the presence of the submarine in Guantanamo Bay was for a purely "logistical" purpose before the ship continued "to the south" to participate in the hemispheric and multinational Unitas exercises: some training that the United States carries out jointly with the navies of different Latin American countries.
The Minrex replied that what happened "forces us to question what strategic purpose the United States pursues in our region, declared a Zone of Peace by 33 nations in an agreement signed in Havana in January 2014."
The island's government took the opportunity to recall its rejection "of the US military presence in Cuba," as well as its demand "for the return of the illegally occupied territory in the province of Guantanamo." The Minrex warned of "the danger posed by the presence and circulation of nuclear submarines of the US armed forces in the nearby Caribbean region.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller snapped back: "We will continue to fly, sail and move military assets where appropriate under international law."
Miller attributed the indignant reaction of the Cuban regime to an attempt to cover up the second anniversary, this Tuesday, of the well-known citizen protests against the dictatorship, on July 11, 2021; demonstrations to which the island's authorities gave a harsh "repressive response," said the US spokesman. "The government's attempts to distract the world from the importance of this day are blatant and laughable," Miller added.
The bilateral incident occurs just as Havana once again stages its firm alliance with Moscow by receiving in the port of the capital, this Tuesday and with all honors, the training ship of the Russian navy Perekop, on an "official visit". to the island until tomorrow Thursday.
A little over a month ago, Washington leaked to the local media an alleged plan by China to build an electronic espionage base in Cuba, which is 150 kilometers from the United States coast, in order to capture signals and steal military secrets from the American superpower.
The relationship between the North American superpower and the largest of the Antilles is, once again, like a time tunnel to the second half of the 20th century.
