German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday there was no evident justification for the United States to attack Cuba, following months of mounting pressure from President Donald Trump on the communist-ruled island.
“Despite all the domestic political problems that this country has with its communist regime, there is no discernible threat emanating from Cuba towards other countries,” Merz said.
Cuba has been bracing for a possible attack following repeated warnings from Trump that Cuba is “next” after he toppled Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro and went to war against Iran.
Speaking at a news conference beside Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Merz said the US should settle its differences with Cuba “peacefully and through diplomatic means and not needlessly start a new conflict in the world which will only cause more problems”.
“The ability to defend oneself does not mean the right to intervene militarily in other states when their political systems do not match what others might have in mind,” he said.
Trump has imposed an oil blockade of Cuba, aggravating the impoverished island’s worst economic and energy crisis in decades.
Lula called the United States’ more longstanding blockade of Cuba a “global disgrace”, imposed for “ideological” reasons, and expressed his firm opposition to any US invasion of Cuba.
“I am against the lack of respect for the territorial integrity of nations, I am against any country in the world meddling and exercising political interference,” Lula said.
“A lot of dialogue, a lot of diplomacy, a lot of democracy — that is what we want in order to resolve and solve the world’s problems, and not weapons.”
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