Cuba prepares for any potential US attack amid oil blockade

(Patria) - Cuba is prepared for the unlikely possibility of military conflict with the United States, said Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio in response to US President Donald Trump's threats to take over the Caribbean island nation, Reuters reported.

Havana and Washington began talks earlier this month as an oil blockade imposed by Trump pushes the communist state deeper into economic crisis. Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba on Monday, saying he expected to have the "honor" of taking over Cuba.

"Our country has historically been prepared to mobilize as a nation as a whole for military aggression... We do not believe it is something likely, but we would be naive if we did not prepare," de Cossio said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in a comment aired Sunday. "We do not see why it should happen and we find no justification."

Reports have suggested that the Trump administration is seeking to remove Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel from power.

De Cossio also said that any suggestion about the nature, structure, or members of the Cuban government being subject to negotiation in talks with the US is inaccurate.

He added that regime change is "absolutely" excluded in talks with the United States.

The US military is not practicing an invasion of Cuba nor actively preparing for a military takeover of the island, the top general overseeing US forces in Latin America told lawmakers on Thursday.