HAVANA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Cuba denied it had reached out to the United States about what the region would look like without President Nicolas Maduro leading Venezuela, calling the media report “absurd and false.”
Cuba vice foreign minister Josefina Vidal told the Associated Press on Monday that those alleged discussions, first reported by Reuters on Friday based on two sources who declined to be identified, did not take place.
“Cuba rejects as absurd and false the press reports that claim … alleged contacts between Cuban officials and the United States Government to address internal matters that are solely the responsibility of the Venezuelan Government.”
Cuba did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for further comment.
The Trump administration has launched an offensive on alleged drug-trafficking boats elsewhere in the Caribbean and Pacific in recent months, killing dozens through targeted missile strikes while accusing Venezuela’s Maduro, a key Cuba ally, of profiting from the trade.
Cuba has criticized those attacks and accuses the U.S. of seeking a violent overthrow of the Venezuelan government amid the dramatic escalation of U.S. firepower in the Latin American region.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson accused Cuba and Venezuela of destabilizing the entire hemisphere.
“The Trump administration remains committed to ensuring Americans are safe from the threat of hostile regimes,” the spokesperson said, adding that included Trump’s aggressive counternarcotics campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Top law enforcement officials in Cuba said last week the island was prioritizing the fight against narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean and continued to provide information to the U.S. Coast Guard.
Vidal told the Associated Press that “warlike sectors” of the United States were conducting a smear campaign designed to create a rift between Cuba and Venezuela and provide a pretext for U.S. aggression in the region.
“Cuba rejects attempts to tarnish its clean record of fighting for peace in Latin America and the Caribbean and against drug trafficking,” Vidal said.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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