LIES told by the United States Secretary of State aim at justifying a military attack on Cuba, its Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that Cuba has been a national security threat for years because of its ties to US adversaries and that US President Donald Trump is intent on addressing it.

The right-wing son of Cuban immigrants said the preference of President Trump was to resolve differences with Cuba peacefully but that he was doubtful the US can reach a diplomatic resolution with the island’s current government.

Over the years, Cuba has become used to “buying time and waiting us out,” Mr Rubio said. “They’re not going to be able to wait us out or buy time. We’re very serious, we’re very focused.”

When asked by reporters about possible military intervention in Cuba, Mr Rubio said: “The president always has the option to do whatever it takes to support and protect the national interest.”

But Mr Rodriguez accused Mr Rubio of lying “in order to instigate a military aggression that would lead to Cubans and American bloodshed.” 

He said: “Cuba is not, nor has it ever been, a threat to the national security of the United States.

“It is the US government that ruthlessly and systematically attacks the Cuban people, and the one which, during the last few months, has been engaged in bringing about desperation among the Cuban people and the collapse of the Cuban economy by banning the import of fuels and reinforcing the extraterritorial character of the blockade.”

Mr Rodriguez said although Mr Rubio calls Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism, it is “the US that has acted in complicity and with impunity for decades by allowing the organisation and perpetration of terrorist actions from its territory against Cuba and harbouring notorious and self-confessed terrorists.”

He added: “The US Secretary of State knows only too well that the strengthening of unilateral coercive measures, which he masterminded with so much malice, is the main obstacle to the economic development of Cuba, which has had a comprehensive and destructive impact on all sectors of the country, including the private sector.”

In early January, the US government took a series of measures aimed to block oil supplies to Cuba. 

On May 1, these measures were toughened through a new executive order that imposes secondary sanctions in the energy sector on countries planning to supply fuel to the Caribbean republic.