- Ch谩vez鈥檚 foreign minister, Maduro, made frequent visits to Cuba that continued after Chavez died in 2013 and his hand-picked successor replaced him
HAVANA: Cuba has no troops in Venezuela and engages in no security operations there but maintains the right to carry out military and intelligence cooperation, a top Cuban diplomat said Wednesday in his government鈥檚 most detailed response yet to US accusations that its forces are propping up President Nicol谩s Maduro.
Carlos Fern谩ndez de Coss铆o, Cuba鈥檚 director-general of US affairs, told The Associated Press in Washington that the US is falsely accusing his country of having more than 20,000 troops and intelligence agents in Venezuela.
De Coss铆o said there are roughly 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela but virtually all are medical workers.
鈥淭here are no troops,鈥� he said in English. 鈥淐uba does not participate in military operations nor in security operations in Venezuela.鈥�
De Coss铆o said that despite the lack of Cuban boots on the ground, he could not deny the existence of intelligence cooperation because 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have that information.鈥� But broader intelligence or military cooperation would be 鈥渢otally legitimate,鈥� he added.
鈥淭he United States has over 800,000 Americans stationed around the world with over 600-700 military bases anywhere in the world. Any two countries in our region have military or intelligence cooperation and we have it with many countries. So it is totally legitimate, it is a sovereign right of Cuba and Venezuela to do so,鈥� de Coss铆o said.
鈥淏ut what I am saying is that in spite of having that right, there are no military personnel of Cuba or troops, nor do we participate in any military or security operation as is constantly alleged,鈥� he added.
Cuba and Venezuela have had an extraordinarily tight alliance over the last two decades, forged when Cuban leader Fidel Castro counseled Hugo Ch谩vez of Venezuela on surviving a coup in 2002. The relationship has since centered on Venezuela sending Cuba an estimated $30 billion worth of oil between 2003 and 2015, in exchange for Havana dispatching tens of thousands of medical workers and other government employees. Cuban programs in Venezuela have ranged from preventive health care to sports coaching and agronomy. According to US officials and Venezuelan defectors, they also include intelligence, security and military cooperation.
鈥淐uban intelligence forces, who have suppressed and censored their people for 60 years, have invaded Venezuela,鈥� said Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican seen as a major influence on the Trump administration鈥檚 Latin America policy. 鈥淭he Cuban regime provides security for Nicol谩s Maduro, who no longer trusts his countrymen, and actively leads operational assistance to crush the Venezuelan opposition.鈥�
Ben Rhodes, who negotiated detente with Cuba as a deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, said the Trump administration is confusing doctors with military and intelligence agents but it is indisputable that Cuba has worked closely with the Venezuelan government on security matters.
鈥淭he Cubans have a significant amount of personnel and probably the bulk of those are doctors but I鈥檓 also sure they have people in various adviser positions related to ideology and security,鈥� Rhodes said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a numbers question, I think it鈥檚 more a question of replicating the tactics, drawing on advice and having some Cuban presence that they can count on.鈥�
Rhodes said the Trump strategy of taking on Cuba and Venezuela closed off the possibility of a negotiated exit for Maduro and put the two socialist governments on comfortable terrain, confronting an American government that could easily be portrayed as bullying and imperialist.
The Cubans and Venezuelans, they know how to operate in this environment,鈥� Rhodes said. 鈥淭hey know what it鈥檚 like to be in a zero-sum ideological game in Latin America. They鈥檙e better at it. These people have been doing this for a long time.鈥�
The collapse of Venezuela鈥檚 oil industry led the country to cut back oil shipments to Cuba from roughly 113,000 barrels a day at their high point to 40-45,000 barrels today, said Jorge Pi帽贸n, an expert on both countries鈥� energy strategies at the University of Texas at Austin. Today along with Cuba鈥檚 domestic oil production, Venezuelan shipments cover a little more than half of Cuba鈥檚 energy needs, leaving it to obtain the rest from other sources including Russia and Algeria, Pi帽贸n said. The terms of those other deals, and the degree to which Venezuela is helping fund them with cash or debt, remain unclear, he said.
The 20-year relationship has made Venezuela the foreign country best-known by ordinary Cubans, after perhaps the United States. It鈥檚 hard to find a Cuban family that doesn鈥檛 have at least one relative who鈥檚 served on a Venezuelan 鈥渕ission,鈥� and at least one other living in South Florida.
The exact nature of the Cuba-Venezuela relationship remains hidden to the public eye, and the subject of increasing tensions with Washington.
Cuba has a large and highly professional security and intelligence apparatus, which includes thousands of operatives who would not be considered military troops. Venezuelan defectors have reported the presence of Cubans in key positions among the Venezuelan armed forces and intelligence services, but to date there has been no public proof.
The Trump administration has nonetheless repeatedly insisted that there are more than 20,000 Cuban security operatives in Venezuela tasked with directly supporting Maduro.
鈥淚f this afternoon 20-25,000 Cubans left Venezuela, I think Maduro would fall by midnight,鈥� US National Security Adviser John Bolton said at the White House on Tuesday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 this foreign presence that sits on top of the military, sits on top of the government, that makes it impossible for the people鈥檚 voice to be heard.鈥�
De Cossio鈥檚 deputy, Johana Tablada, told reporters in Havana that all of the Cubans in Venezuela are civilians and 94 percent are involved in medical missions.
She called Bolton a 鈥減athological liar鈥� with a long history of false statements including claiming in 2001 and 2002 that Iraq had stores of chemical weapons and that Cuba had biological weapons.
The biological weapons claim has long made Bolton one of the most detested American figures among Cuban government officials, who have viewed his return to White House with dread.
Bolton is seen as a key figure in the United States sharp U-turn on Cuba, from detente under President Barack Obama to open hostility under Trump. In recent months the US has pledged to limited Cuban-Americans鈥� remittances to Cuba, threatened to impose new regulations on travel here and allowed Americans to sue foreign companies doing business involving properties confiscated during Cuba鈥檚 1959 socialist revolution, a measure that goes into effect Thursday.
Trump on Tuesday threatened that 鈥渁 full and complete embargo, together with highest-level sanctions, will be placed on the island of Cuba ... if Cuban Troops and Militia do not immediately CEASE military and other operations,鈥� in Venezuela.
Trump was vague on what new measures are under consideration but De Coss铆o said Cuba had withstood 60 years of a US trade embargo and wouldn鈥檛 be deterred by further sanctions.
鈥淪omebody should have informed him that Cuba is not easily intimidated,鈥� De Coss铆o said. 鈥淢any of his predecessors have tried it unsuccessfully. It is something that won鈥檛 work and it won鈥檛 be productive for the United States.鈥�
Ch谩vez and Castro said they first met in 1994 when the rising Venezuelan leader was personally welcomed by the Cuban president during a visit to address a conference in Havana. After Ch谩vez became president in 2002, Castro鈥檚 aid was seen as key to defeating the attempt to unseat him.
Fueled by hundreds of billions in Venezuelan oil bounty during a long stretch of high oil prices, the pair founded leftist regional bodies that worked to undo US influence in Latin America, and Venezuela filled with Cubans.
鈥淚 had the luck of being personally seen off by the Commander in Chief (Castro) when I went to Venezuela along with 80 or so other medical workers,鈥� recalled Dr. Rafael Antonio Broche, who went to Venezuela in 2003 and served there under 2011.
Ch谩vez鈥檚 foreign minister, Maduro, made frequent visits to Cuba that continued after Chavez died in 2013 and his hand-picked successor replaced him. His experience in Cuba went further back. According to accounts from Venezuelan leftists, Maduro studied for a year in the 1980s at a Cuban Communist Party institute dedicated to training future leaders.