A rare meeting between an American general and Cuban officers near Guantanamo news

Yesterday, Friday, the commander of the US Southern Command, General Francis Donovan, met with Cuban military officials, in a rare meeting near the US naval base in Guantanamo, Cuba.

The Southern Military Command published, through its social media accounts, a photo of Donovan with a number of Cuban military officials, including General Roberto Legra Sotolongo, First Deputy Minister of General Staff Affairs.

Before the official announcement of this meeting, Reuters quoted an American source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that General Donovan – the highest-ranking officer supervising American forces in Latin America – discussed “issues related to operational security” with the Cuban delegation.

Donovan’s meeting in Cuba is the first of its kind in a long time for the commander of Southern Command, and comes amid growing fears in Cuba about the possibility of a US military attack on this communist-ruled island.

This meeting comes after a rare visit by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Havana earlier this month.

The United States imposed a virtual blockade on Cuba by threatening to impose sanctions on countries that supply it with fuel, causing power outages and exacerbating the worst crisis the country has witnessed in decades.

In her speech last Thursday during a hearing denouncing US sanctions on Cuban oil imports, Josefina Vidal – Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister – accused Washington of fabricating pretexts to portray Cuba as a threat to US national security in order to justify launching an aggression against it.

Vidal noted that “the danger of military aggression against Cuba is increasing day by day,” but she also stated that the channel of communication between the two governments is open.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last Wednesday that he was confident that the dialogue between the two countries – which began last March – would achieve a “good result.”

In the latest escalation of the pressure campaign launched by US President Donald Trump against the communist government in Cuba, the United States officially filed four murder charges against former President Raul Castro, against the backdrop of the downing of a civilian plane in 1996.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez warned of a “bloodbath” that would claim the lives of thousands of Cubans and Americans if Washington carried out any military action against his country.