Cuba denies having agreed with China to open espionage center on the island

Cuba has categorically denied this Thursday the information of the U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal which states that the Government of the island signed an agreement with China to allow the installation on its territory of a large secret espionage center.

The Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossíohas said in a statement to the media that it is a question of “unfounded information”, “slander” and “fallacies”. to justify U.S. sanctions against Cuba and destabilize the island.

He added that the Cuban government rejects “any military presence”. in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the U.S. presence in Guantanamo (eastern Cuba).

According to information from the New York newspaper, the center would make it possible to intercept communications at the regional level.. For the installation of this infrastructure, for which no location or further information was provided, Cuba would receive “billions of dollars” in return.

“Slander of this type have been frequently fabricated by U.S. officials, apparently familiar with intelligence information,” criticized Fernández de Cossío.

The diplomat related the content of the U.S. newspaper article to other information that has been published in the past such as the “alleged acoustic attacks against diplomatic personnel.” of the North American country on the island, “the non-existent Cuban military presence in Venezuela” and “the imaginary existence of chemical weapons laboratories” in the Caribbean country.

“The U.S. hostility against Cuba and the extreme and cruel measures that cause humanitarian damage and punish the Cuban people cannot be justified in any way,” he concluded.

In statements to the U.S. network MSNBCJohn Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said that the newspaper’s story is “inaccurate”. but that the U.S. “is focused on making sure it can mitigate any threat from China in the region.”