Hundreds of Cubans express their support for Venezuela amid tensions with the U.S.

Havana,. – Hundreds of people gathered this Saturday in Havana in support of Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro amid the escalation of tensions with the United States, which maintains a military deployment in the waters of the Caribbean Sea near the South American country under the argument of combating drug trafficking. Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, led the political-cultural event held in front of the state-owned Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in the central Havana neighborhood of Vedado.

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The present, supporters of the Cuban Government, waved Cuban and Venezuelan flags, images of the deceased former presidents Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), and shouted slogans in favor of the South American country. The United States has maintained a naval and air deployment in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, near Venezuela, since September, under the argument of combating drug trafficking. It has also linked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the Cartel of the Suns, a group allegedly linked to drug trafficking. In this context, Washington has reported attacks on about twenty alleged boats in the service of drug trafficking and the death of more than 80 crew members. Cuba, a historical ally of Venezuela, has warned from the beginning of the tensions that “cannot be legally or morally accepted” what it considers “pretexts” by the United States for a possible military aggression against Venezuela.