Cuba's top diplomat in Washington has said Cubans would defend themselves against any potential US military action.
"We are preparing to defend ourselves," Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera told The Hill news website in an interview published on Friday.
"And in the way that we are preparing, it's not in an offensive way. It's not that we are preparing to be the first to do any action against the US territory or against the US people. We don't want that," she said.
Torres Rivera warned that any military action "could be a bloodbath," saying Cuba does not want "Cubans dying in Cuba" nor "any American soldier."
Her remarks came as Cuba faces severe fuel shortages and prolonged blackouts amid a US blockade.
Torres Rivera reiterated that Cuba's "sovereignty, independence and right to self-determination" were non-negotiable, while insisting Havana does not pose a threat to the US.
"We are a small island that wants only to be left alone to decide our future in the way that Cubans want," she said.
Castro indictment
Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to announce criminal charges against Raul Castro, the former Cuba president, according to a US Justice Department official.
The move would escalate pressure against the island.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said federal prosecutors expect to unseal an indictment against Castro, 94, in Miami on May 20, based on a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down planes operated by a group of Cuban exiles.
The indictment would need to first be approved by a grand jury. The planned announcement was first reported by the Miami Herald.
The energy crisis in Cuba deepened after the US removed Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, in January and threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
