U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Cuba against acquiring weapons that could threaten the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay or the American homeland, delivering the remarks on June 10 during a visit to the base in southeastern Cuba. Speaking in a green T-shirt and black shorts after physical training with U.S. forces, Hegseth said it “would be unwise for the government of Cuba to try to procure or get access to the types of weapons that could reach this base or the American homeland.” He added that doing so “would be inviting the kind of confrontation not only do they not want, but they could not stand.”
The warning escalates the administration’s public pressure on Cuba, which has faced intensified U.S. sanctions and what The Guardian described as a “devastating oil blockade.” President Donald Trump has repeatedly signaled that the Cuban government could be the next target of U.S. pressure after Venezuela.
In remarks to troops, Hegseth also said, “What happens with the future of Cuba is in the hands of … the president of the United States and the leadership of Cuba.”
Last month, Axios reported, citing U.S. officials, that Cuba had obtained more than 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and was seeking to acquire more. The report said Havana had begun discussing plans to use the drones to attack the Guantánamo base, U.S. military vessels, and possibly Florida. Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, rejected the report, accusing the United States of “baselessly plotting for its next war.”
Hegseth’s trip was his second as defense secretary, following an earlier visit last year. It came after a series of high-level U.S. official visits to the island. Late last month, the top U.S. general overseeing operations in Latin America visited Guantánamo and met with Cuban military leaders. Two weeks earlier, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana and met with Cuban officials.
The base at Guantánamo Bay, located about 430 miles southeast of Miami, has long been a source of controversy. It houses a detention facility for prisoners captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, where detainees have been held indefinitely. Human rights groups have condemned conditions there, and U.N. experts have described it as a site of “unparalleled notoriety.” The Trump administration has also used the base as a holding center for immigrants being deported from the United States.