‘Latin America and the Caribbean must be respected as a Peace Zone,’ FM Rodriguez said.

On Monday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the presence of U.S. “naval and air military forces” in the southern Caribbean and rejected Washington’s claim that the deployment is part of an anti-drug operation.

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Rodriguez said U.S. military movements in the Caribbean respond to the “corrupt agenda” of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and demanded that the region be respected as a “zone of peace.”

“We denounce the presence of U.S. naval and air forces in the southern Caribbean which, under false pretexts, respond to the corrupt agenda of the Secretary of State. Latin America and the Caribbean must be respected as a Peace Zone,” Rodriguez said.

Last week, CNN revealed that the United States has begun deploying 4,000 troops — mainly Marines — in Latin American and Caribbean waters to allegedly combat drug cartels.

The surveillance mission includes a nuclear submarine, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a warship equipped with missiles.

A few months ago, a letter from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth became public, broadly interpreting the U.S. military’s traditional mandate to include additional missions.

Hegseth said the military’s task is to defend the homeland, which includes “sealing the borders, repelling all forms of invasion, including mass immigration, drug trafficking, human smuggling and other criminal activities.”

In 2014, however, the heads of state and government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) signed a declaration proclaiming the region a “Zone of Peace.”

teleSUR/ JF

Source EFE – FM

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