By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A visiting senior Cuban official on Tuesday accused the Trump administration of ratcheting up tensions between Washington and Havana and expressed concerns that the U.S. was trying to provoke a military confrontation.
Speaking to reporters at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, Johana Tablada, deputy director for U.S. affairs in Cuba’s foreign ministry, said an armed clash between the two old Cold War rivals was “not a good idea” and that the Cuban government was trying to ease the situation but that the U.S. appeared determined to further damage relations.
Tablada said new Trump administration measures targeting Communist-ruled Cuba intend to “dynamite our relation(ship) to really provoke a rupture of relation, and even to create conditions, in my opinion, for, if necessary, a military confrontation.”
Republican U.S. President Donald Trump and his top officials have taken a hardline approach to Cuba since he took office in January, returning longtime foe Cuba to a U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, tightening rules on remittances, and shutting off migration programs that allowed some Cubans to work in the U.S. legally.
Trump officials have not publicly threatened any military action. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Chief of Mission Mike Hammer – the top U.S. diplomat in Havana – has traveled the island widely in recent months to meet with political dissidents, raising the ire of the Cuban government, which accuses him of seeking to foment unrest.
Cuba’s foreign ministry last week issued a verbal warning to Hammer, saying he had incited “Cuban citizens to commit serious criminal acts, attack the constitutional order, or encourage them to act against the authorities,” calling his actions a violation of the Vienna Convention norms on diplomatic relations.
Tablada accused Hammer of channeling U.S. humanitarian funds to undermine the Cuban government and said Cuban diplomats would not be allowed to engage in similar behavior in the U.S.
“To push both countries into scenarios of confrontation and collision is not a good idea,” she said.
Just days before Trump took office in January former President Joe Biden’s administration removed Cuba from its terrorism blacklist, effectively reversing sanctions from Trump’s first term.
After returning to office, Trump quickly returned Cuba to the blacklist and also reinstated many of the restrictions on trade and travel that Biden had eased.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson; Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Don Durfee and Alistair Bell)
